10/25/07
What is PECARN?
PECARN is the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network, the first federally-funded multi-institutional network for research in pediatric emergency medicine in the United States.
What is PECARN’s goal?
The goal of this network is to conduct meaningful and rigorous multi-institutional research into the prevention and management of acute illnesses and injuries in children and youth across the continuum of emergency medicine health care.
PECARN will work with diverse demographic populations and across varied geographical regions to promote the health of children in all phases of care. To accomplish these tasks, PECARN provides the leadership and infrastructure needed to promote:
- multi-center studies
- support research collaboration among EMSC investigators
- and encourage informational exchanges between EMSC investigators and providers
Who created PECARN?
In both 2001 and 2005, the Emergency Medical Services for Children Program awarded four cooperative agreements to academic medical centers through a competitive process entitled the EMSC Network Development Demonstration Project (EMSC-NDDP). These cooperative agreements form PECARN.
In September of 2002, a cooperative agreement was awarded to the University of Utah to serve as the Central Data Management and Coordinating Center for PECARN.
How is PECARN organized?
The PECARN network consists of:
- a data coordinating center
- four Research Node Centers (RNCs)
- and over 20 Hospital Emergency Department Affiliates (HEDAs)
that represent academic, community, urban, rural, general, and children's hospitals. The entire network serves approximately 800,000 acutely ill and injured children every year.
How is PECARN Governed?
The PECARN network is governed by a Steering Committee that formulates and monitors policies and procedures guiding all research activities, and reviews and approves research proposals. All major scientific and operational decisions are made by majority vote. Five Subcommittees have been created to carry out specific tasks identified by the Steering Committee:
- The Protocol Review and Development Subcommittee
- The Grant Writing and Publications Subcommittee
- The Feasibility and Budget Subcommittee
- The Safety and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee
- The Quality Assurance Subcommittee
How do research projects become a part of the PECARN network?
In PECARN, each node works collaboratively with the others and with MCHB/HRSA to initiate, implement, and administer network research. Specific research projects, however, require extramural research funding to be conducted through PECARN.
Those who are interested in submitting a proposal to PECARN should contact Dr. Nathan Kuppermann, Chair of the Steering Committee of PECARN (nkuppermann@ucdavis.edu).
