Local Child Fatality Review Team: Role of the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Representative
Child Fatality Review (CFR) is a multidisciplinary process to help us better understand why children in our community die and to help us identify how we can prevent future deaths.
Local Child Fatality Review Teams will meet with varying frequency to review sudden, unexpected, and unexplained deaths, deaths investigated by DCS, and those deaths classified as undetermined, homicide, suicide, or accident, for all children under the age of eighteen. Team members will share case information on child deaths that occur in their region with the goal of preventing future deaths. In order for this team to be successful, all agencies involved in the safety, health, and protection of children must be involved.
The death of a child is a tragic event. Reviewing the circumstances involved in every death is part of our job as professionals and requires our time and commitment. Only then can we truly understand how to better protect our children and prevent future deaths from occurring.
- The emergency medical services representative can provide the team with information on:
- EMS run reports
- Details on the scene, including the persons at the scene
- Medical information related to the emergency procedures performed
- The emergency medical services representative can provide the team with expertise by:
- Giving detailed explanations of EMS procedures and protocols
- Sharing general knowledge based on EMS training and experience
- The emergency medical services representative can support the team by:
- Understanding EMS procedures and protocols
- Addressing issues regarding scene preservation practices
- Providing assistance to member agencies in working with area law enforcement
- The emergency medical services representative can help build bridges by:
- Learning about the policies and practices of other agencies through team participation
- Acting as liaison between the CFR team and the jurisdiction’s EMS community
- Working with law enforcement and prosecutors to resolve issues related to scene investigation