GETTING IN THE DOOR...

In the beginning days of ImPACTS we relied heavily on relationships with providers in other locations to get in the door of community hospitals. Working in an academic center, we contacted past trainees and residents that have graduated into attending physician positions at other facilities by way of email, text, and phone. In other instances, we sent mass emails to medical directors, nurse educators, and emergency department managers describing our program and offering outreach to their location. There is no easy way in, but here are some other examples of ways to get into the door of other

hospitals:

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• Contact your local EMSC (Emergency Medical Services for Children) state representative. He/she will have a list of all the medical directors in your state (emails and phone numbers)

• Follow the local news or conduct case reviews on patient transfers. It is ideal to contact institutions after any pediatric cases.

• Use your peers and ask around. You never know who has contacts at other locations.

• Find out who teaches (PALS, ENPC, TNCC, ABLS, ACLS, BLS) in community sites and ask them for contacts.

• Make friends with your EMS providers! They know many people!

• Cold calling institutions. Most phone numbers may be listed on hospital directoryʼs website

• Submit marketing materials to managers and medical directors.

• Research on social media e.g. Facebook or Instagram and find out who you may know that works at that location.

• Use the words “FREE EDUCATION by _______” in the title of your email, you would be surprised how that can catch someoneʼs eyes!

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MAKING INITIAL CONTACT

We like to call this the “puppy and rainbows” pitch. Your aim is to sell the project! Be enthusiastic, be professional, make a few jokes, but most importantly, be yourself. These individuals that you are meeting with are like-minded and most work in the emergency medicine field. They know the lingo and they already did the most difficult part, letting you in their door. Keep the momentum going. We typically use this time to introduce our project, introduce the team, and focus on the aim of ImPACTS - to measure and evaluate the system while comparing and contrasting between institutions to ultimately

improve pediatric care across the spectrum of facilities. We highly suggest that the follow-up email should include a time and date to meet in person or discuss the project by way of teleconference.

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Please see links below for an example of an “Initial Contact Email.” We typically attach the “ImPACTS One-Pager” describing more details of the project in this email. Please feel free to adapt this to fit the needs of your institution.

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DURING THE MEETING

This meeting typically can run approximately 30-45 minutes in total. During this meeting we begin the formulation of an ongoing relationship with these community providers. It is important to discuss the specifics of the program including goals, objectives, staff and room needed for sim, and equipment needed during the session. Specific details for the day of the sim can be found in the appendix in the “Details of In-Situ Simulation Day” document. The main points include:

• Designation of a Pediatric Champion (MD, Midlevel or RN) to serve as a liaison for the community site. This person is the individual that you will be in direct contact will to ensure all the logistics of the simulation day are in order. You should attain this individualʼs email address and direct phone number.

• Staff expected to participate in the simulation should mimic the siteʼs actual code team. One example would include 1-2 physicians, 3-4 RNs, 1-2 technicians, 1 RT, and 1 pharmacist.

• Location of the in-situ simulation needs to be in the resuscitation or trauma room - this ensures more realism and mimics the location where a critically ill child would present.

• Duration of the day: 2.5 hours per team (4 simulations per team). We recommend 2 teams to participate. This will take about 6 hours with a break between teams, cleanup, setup, and lunch.

• Permission to use all the locationʼs equipment including the code cart, Broselow cart, ET

tubes, BVMs, and IV supplies.

• Fake medications (dyed blue for safety) will be brought by the ImPACTS team. These medications (many bought from http://www.pocketnurse.com) have the same concentration as real medications including those used in RSI.

• Lastly, it is important to solidify a session date and starting time of the ImPACTS session during this meeting.

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