Florida hospitals train staff and set emergency care steps for children

Each hospital with an emergency department must set care steps, train staff, and name a pediatric emergency care coordinator. These requirements apply to each hospital with an emergency department. Care steps must reflect evidence-based practices and cover triage, vital signs, weighing in kilograms, medication doses, and pediatric instruments. Annual training must cover pediatric instrument use suited to the hospital’s license type and include emergency drills. The coordinator must be a licensed physician, physician assistant, nurse, or paramedic and oversee implementation of the care steps. The law takes effect July 1, 2026; training and emergency drills must occur at least annually.

Each hospital emergency department must complete the national pediatric readiness assessment; it may also complete an open assessment in certain years. The assessments concern pediatric readiness at each hospital emergency department. The national assessment must follow the schedule set by the National Pediatric Readiness Project. A hospital may conduct the open assessment during a year when the national assessment is not conducted. The law takes effect July 1, 2026. The open assessment is allowed in years when the national assessment is not conducted.

The state agency must adopt rules setting minimum standards for pediatric care in hospital emergency departments. The standards cover pediatric care in hospital emergency departments. The agency must consult the Florida Emergency Medical Services for Children State Partnership Program. The standards must include availability and immediate access to equipment and supplies made for children. The law takes effect July 1, 2026.

The state agency must collect and publish hospitals’ pediatric readiness assessment scores. The scores are for each hospital emergency department. For national assessments, the agency must compare each hospital’s score with the national average when that average is available. For open assessments, the agency may collect and publish no more than one score per hospital each year and must compare it with that hospital’s most recently published national assessment score. The law takes effect July 1, 2026. The agency must collect national assessment scores by December 31, 2026, and by December 31 in each later assessment year; it must publish them by April 1, 2027, and by April 1 after each later assessment year.