Seeking Better Care
In 1990, a dedicated group of physicians, nurses, paramedics, EMTs, and EMS sought a better way to teach and assess pediatric emergency care. Funded by the California EMS Authority, they formed the California Pediatric Emergency and Critical Care Coalition and the California EMSC Project.
First National Curriculum
Spurred by their vision for a national consensus, the coalition's Pediatric Education for Paramedics Task Force joined with the American College of Emergency Physician's Pediatric Emergency Medicine Committee. In 1992, they published the Pediatric Education Guidelines for Paramedics. Next, a National PEP Task Force was formed. It brought together representatives from the Florida Technical Advisory Panel for EMSC, the California PEP Task Force, and several other pediatric prehospital education groups. The new National PEP Task Force was co-funded by the Florida Emergency Medicine Foundation and the California EMS Authority.
In 1995, this national team produced a course called PEP (Pediatric Education for Paramedics). They built on the outstanding work of several state EMSC projects, especially The Washington Pediatric Prehospital Care Project, headed by Dena Brownstein, and The California Pediatric Airway Project, led by Marianne Gausche-Hill.
From PEP to PEPP
In 1998, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) established a National Steering Committee to restructure and expand the course. The AAP entered into a key partnership with Jones & Bartlett Learning, a leading publisher in the field of EMS education. Together, they created the comprehensive, innovative, and highly visual pediatric course now known as PEPP, Pediatric Education for Prehospital Professionals.
PEPP, Fourth Edition
As the science of emergency pediatrics grows, the PEPP Course continues to evolve. In 2020, the Fourth Edition of the PEPP Course was redesigned with a case-based focus for greater engagement and an online hybrid format for greater flexibility. Enhanced course content includes new coverage of behavioral emergencies, active threat/hostile threat and human trafficking, additional tourniquet and intranasal medication administration procedures, and more. The National PEPP Steering Committee works to continually improve course design and methodology. Jones & Bartlett supports those efforts by engineering the most effective and useful way to deliver PEPP to a national and international audience.