Our Data and Projects
Data Confidentiality
All data collected, managed, and maintained by the EDC are governed by applicable data use agreements, privacy requirements, program policies, and approved data governance practices. These requirements help ensure that data are used appropriately while supporting quality improvement, pediatric readiness initiatives, performance measurement, and research activities.
Protecting confidential information is a core responsibility of the EDC. Access to information is limited to authorized users and is governed by business need, approved use, and applicable data-sharing requirements.
Personal identifiable information (PII) and other sensitive information are maintained in accordance with established confidentiality, privacy, and security requirements. Such information is not sold or distributed for unauthorized purposes.
Research requests undergo a formal review process to ensure compliance with Institutional Review Board (IRB) requirements, data use agreements, privacy protections, applicable regulations, and program policies.
The EDC is committed to responsible data stewardship. Data are collected, managed, analyzed, reported, and shared using established practices designed to protect confidentiality, maintain data integrity, and support appropriate use of information.
The EDC created, EMSC Data Center Best Practices: An EMSC State Partnership Program Guide as a resource to help inform best practices throughout the data cycle.
Security
The EDC has been involved with EMSC data collection since 1995. The EDC maintains a multi-layered approach to information security in partnership with University Information Technology (UIT) at the University of Utah. This approach includes infrastructure protection, monitoring, access controls, network security, and dedicated technical support designed to protect systems, applications, and data resources.
Centralized authentication and communication over public networks are encrypted using transport layer security (TLS) and/or virtual private network (VPN) technologies. Direct access to data center machines is only available while physically on-premise or via a VPN client. Access to EDC systems is managed through role-based authentication, security controls, encrypted communications, and restricted access procedures designed to protect confidential information and maintain system integrity.
Security systems are continuously monitored to identify, prevent, and respond to potential security risks, intrusion attempts, and operational issues. Security scans are regularly run against data center servers and IT staff are notified of intrusion alerts. Security is maintained with Windows user/group domain-level security. Users are required to change their passwords every 90 days (about 3 months). All files are protected at user/group levels and database security is handled in an equivalent manner with group-level access to databases, tables, and views. Finally, all laptops used by the EDC are whole-disk encrypted.
Our data center uses monitoring tools to continuously monitor applications and servers. Environmental and network systems are also monitored to ensure up-time. System Administrators are on-call 24/7/365 to respond to urgent events.
High system availability, continuous monitoring, and proactive maintenance help ensure that EDC data systems remain reliable, secure, and available for authorized users.
Because EDC data support pediatric readiness initiatives, quality improvement efforts, performance measurement, research, and national reporting activities, maintaining strong information security practices is essential to preserving trust in the systems and data that support those activities.
911 Prehospital Agencies and the National Prehospital Pediatric Readiness Project (PPRP)
Providing high-quality prehospital care to children requires an infrastructure designed to support the care of pediatric patients and their families. The data collected is part of a national multi-phase quality improvement initiative to assess prehospital agencies’ readiness to treat pediatric patients based on 8 domains derived from the 2020 joint policy statement called Pediatric Readiness in Emergency Medical Services Systems.
EMSC Performance Measure information collected as part of this project is related to two EMSC performance measures which represent examples of this infrastructure. One measure focuses on the availability of a designated individual(s), often called a Pediatric Emergency Care Coordinator or PECC, who is responsible for coordinating and championing pediatric-specific activities for a prehospital agency. The other measure assesses the processes and frequency utilized by prehospital agencies to evaluate their prehospital providers’ skills using pediatric-specific equipment.
How the data are collected
In 2019, the EDC created a secure online system to serve as a centralized national repository of prehospital agency contact information. Currently this online system houses information on almost 16,000 prehospital agencies. As a result, a comprehensive dynamic list of prehospital agencies in the US is available to the EMSC Program to conduct surveys and assessments. This has proven to be a valuable resource for the EMSC Program, program managers, and researchers.
Data are collected using a national online assessment deployed on a statewide level. The assessment is hosted by the EDC and sent to prehospital agency directors in 58 states and territories. The data collection period occurs over 3 months with no sampling option.
24/7 Hospital Emergency Departments and the National Pediatric Readiness Project (NPRP)
Timely access to pediatric specialty services for a child in the acute stages of illness or injury is critical to reducing morbidity and mortality. Most children are treated first in a local community hospital, which may not have all the processes, staff, and equipment needed to provide specialty pediatric care.1
The data collected by the EDC are from the National Pediatric Readiness Project (NPRP). The NPRP Assessment is part of a national multi-phase quality improvement initiative to assess hospital emergency departments’ (EDs) readiness to treat pediatric patients based on 7 domains derived from the 2018 joint policy statement called Pediatric Readiness in the Emergency Department.
- Gausche-Hill M, Ely M, Schmuhl P, Telford R, Remick KE, Edgerton EA, Olson LM. A national assessment of pediatric readiness of emergency departments. JAMA Pediatrics. 2015 Jun 1;169(6):527-34.
How the data are collected
In 2019, the EDC created a secure online system to serve as a centralized national repository of 24/7 hospitals with an emergency department (ED) and their contact information. Currently this online system houses information on approximately 5,000 hospitals. As a result, a comprehensive dynamic list of these EDs in the US is available to the EMSC Program and is a crucial resource for the Program and program managers.
We collect this data using an online assessment via the National Pediatric Readiness Project (NPRP) (see pedsready.org). This national quality improvement initiative is aimed at improving the pediatric readiness of 24/7 EDs. The assessment is coordinated by the EDC and is sent to Emergency Department Nurse Managers in all 59 states and territories. The data collection period lasts four months and has no sampling option.
For PECARN-related data collection processes visit