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COMMITTEE
ON PEDIATRIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE
SECTION
ON EMERGENCY MEDICINE
HISTORY
The
Committee on Pediatric Emergency Medicine (COPEM) shares similar roots with the
Committee on Environmental Hazards, but they evolved in different directions.
In October 1953 the Executive Board read a letter from Dr Norman C. Kiefer, Federal
Civil Defense Administrator, regarding the possibility of the American Academy
of Pediatrics (AAP) preparing a manual to cover the care of children during an
emergency. Dr Stewart H. Clifford moved that Dr Francis McDonald be appointed
a committee of 1 to explore this problem of special care of children in an emergency
and report back to the Executive Board. The Executive Board concurred and Dr McDonald
was appointed to head a 1-man Committee on Civil Defense. The Executive Board
also established a Committee on Cooperation with the Armed Forces in 1953, but
sunset it in March 1957. In its last year or 2, it was given no work to do. Dr
McDonald reported back in October 1954 with a recommendation that a permanent
committee on disaster be established. He also made recommendations for the care
and treatment of children in disasters. The recommendations were referred to the
appropriate committees. In the fall of 1955, the Executive Board voted to expand
the committee's size and scope and renamed it the Committee on Civil Defense and
Disaster. However, the committee did not meet. Executive Secretary, Dr Einor H.
Christopherson, noted this in his report to the Executive Board in April, 1956
and also noted that he had received no report, though Dr McDonald phoned him with
reports of his own contacts with civil defense officials in Washington. Dr Edgar
Martmer suggested that the committee be disbanded and that Dr McDonald be appointed
as a liaison representative to the National Civil Defense and let him find out
what pediatricians were expected to do in a war emergency. The Executive Board
agreed and voted to disband the committee and appoint Dr McDonald as a special
liaison to the National Civil Defense. Dr
McDonald reported back in August 1957 with concrete recommendations for informing
pediatricians of the importance of civil defense measures and the dangers of radio-active
fallout. He also noted the need for preparation for defense against natural disasters
such as tornadoes. Dr McDonald was serving in the Navy at that time. Meanwhile,
at the Executive Board meeting on June 8, 1957, Dr Christopherson read a letter
from Dr Robert A. Aldrich in which he expressed concern about plans for disaster
control as it affected children. Dr Christopherson noted that he had written back
to Dr Aldrich about the AAP's contacts with the National Research Council and
the Atomic Energy Commission. Dr Christopherson thought that the Academy could
work with the American Medical Association (AMA) on the issue and refer all AAP
material to Dr Aldrich. The next day, Dr Christopherson noted a second letter
from Dr Aldrich on the dangers of radiation and fallout. Dr Clifford also reported
a phone call from Dr Lee Farr, the AAP representative to the National Research
Council expressing similar concerns. Dr Farr suggested that the Academy establish
a committee on radiation effects in childhood. After some discussion, the Executive
Board voted to establish the Committee on Radiation Hazards and Epidemiology of
Malformations. This committee eventually became the Committee on Environmental
Hazards and later the Committee on Environmental Health (see Committee on Environmental
Health). While the committee was originally formed to address the effects of nuclear
war and other disasters, it evolved into a committee concerned with a wide variety
of environmental problems. Early
in 1967, Secretary of Chapters Dr James B. Gillespie attended an AMA Regional
Conference on Disaster Medical Care. The purpose of the conference was to promote
the development of state and local programs of medical preparedness for disaster.
Executive Board minutes are silent on the issue. However, it appears that some
time in 1967, a Committee on Disaster & Emergency Medical Care was established.
It met for the first time on October 23, 1967. The meeting resulting in adoption
of several objectives: to make recommendations to the overall programs for the
injured and sick in disaster and emergency medical care; and to inform AAP members
and other pediatricians concerning the problems of disaster and emergency medical
care in the pediatric age group. They also considered preparation of a small concise
manual on standards for pediatric emergency medical service in hospitals. However,
at their next meeting in Evanston on June 6, 1968, they decided that this would
merely duplicate those manuals that were already available. Instead, they decided
to prepare a chapter on pediatric emergency care and recommend its addition to
either an AMA booklet on emergency medicine or a similar manual by the American
Society of Anesthesiologists. Within a year, however, they changed their mind
and decided to produce a manual on pediatric emergency care. Disaster and Emergency
Medical Services for Infants and Children was finally published in 1972. The
committee chairperson was also the pediatric representative to the AMA Commission
on Emergency Medical Services. Since some of its interests overlapped those of
other AAP committees, notably Accident Prevention and School Health, the committee
adopted a subordinate role in those areas and simply assisted the efforts of the
appropriate committee. The committee established a liaison with the Committee
on Accident Prevention. It also had a liaison relationship with the American College
of Emergency Physicians. The committee did not meet for a few years or so in the
early 70s pending completion of the manual, but then commenced meeting again in
1972. On March 15, 1975, the Advisory Committee to the Board on Committees (ACBOC)
decided to sunset the Committee on Disaster and Emergency Medical Care and delegate
its functions to the Committee on Accident Prevention. The Executive Board agreed
to this in June 1975, and the committee was sunset. At the same meeting, they
also voted to defer publication of a revision of the disaster manual. In the end,
it was not published. Meanwhile,
the Committee on Hospital Care (COHC) established a liaison relationship with
the Committee on Disaster and Emergency Medical Care. When the latter disbanded,
ACBOC proposed that its functions go to the Committee on Accident Prevention.
Instead, they went to the COHC. At its meeting in March 1976 the committee set
up a Subcommittee on Emergency Medical Services. In 1978 it became the Subcommittee
on Ambulatory and Emergency Care. In 1981 it became the Subcommittee on Emergency
Medicine. It is unclear whether the subcommittee lasted much longer as it is not
listed as a subcommittee after 1981, though the committee continued to interest
itself in pediatric emergency medicine. The COHC also established a relationship
with the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). (See Committee on Hospital
Care for Committee Chairpersons.) Over
the years, the Academy experienced a rapid growth in the number of Sections. By
1979 pediatricians involved in emergency medical care wanted a section of their
own. They organized an ad hoc Committee on Pediatric Emergency Care, which in
turn proposed establishment of Section on Pediatric Emergency Medicine (SOPEM).
The proposal went to the Advisory Committee to the Board on Education (ACBOE)
in March 1980, but action was deferred pending background information. After consideration
by ACBOE and the Council on Sections, the Executive Board finally approved establishment
of the Section on Pediatric Emergency Medicine at its meeting in January 1981.
The new section
soon established a liaison with the COHC and with the ACEP. Section members were
very concerned about pediatric care in hospital emergency rooms. To address their
concerns, they proposed a Task Force on Pediatric Emergency Medicine. The COHC
approved the concept at its meeting in April 1983. Soon afterward, ACBOC recommended
that the proposal be tabled until ACBOC could meet again in September. Executive
Board minutes do not reflect just when the proposal was approved. However, the
Executive Committee did indicate discontent with policies by the ACEP and the
American Heart Association regarding pediatric emergency care in their report
to the Executive Board in January 1984. In any case, a joint AAP/ACEP Task Force
on Pediatric Emergency Medicine commenced operations to a limited extent by the
end of 1983 and met for the first time in February 1984. The
task force worked with the Section on Pediatric Emergency Medicine on the APLS
course in emergency medicine and other projects. The task force soon determined
that a regular AAP Committee on Pediatric Emergency Medicine was needed. The Executive
Board approved the proposal at its meeting in January 1985. In July 1985, the
task force was replaced by a Provisional Committee on Pediatric Emergency Medicine.
In 1988, it became a full Committee on Pediatric Emergency Medicine. COMMITTEE
CHAIRPERSONS
Committee
on Civil Defense
Francis C. McDonald, MD, FAAP, 1953-1955
Committee to Cooperate with the Armed Forces
James G. Hughes, MD, FAAP,
1953-1955
R. Cannon Eley, MD, FAAP, 1955-1957 Committee
on Civil Defense and Disaster
Francis C. McDonald, MD, FAAP, 1955-1956
Committee
on Radiation Hazards and Epidemiology of Malformations
Robert A. Aldrich,
MD, FAAP, 1957-1961 Committee
on Disaster and Emergency Medical Care
Ralph H. Kunstadter, MD, FAAP,
1967-1975 Committee
on Hospital Care Subcommittee on Emergency Medical Services
Willis A.
Wingert, MD, FAAP, 1976-1978 Committee
on Hospital Care Subcommittee on Ambulatory and Emergency Care
Willis
A. Wingert, MD, FAAP, 1978-1981 Committee
on Hospital Care Subcommittee on Emergency Medicine
Willis A. Wingert,
MD, FAAP, 1981-1982 Task
Force on Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Martha Bushore, MD, FAAP, 1983-1985
Provisional
Committee on Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Martha Bushore, MD, FAAP, 1985-1988
Committee
on Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Stephen Ludwig, MD, FAAP, 1988-1992
Joseph
A. Weinberg, MD, FAAP, 1992-1996
Robert A. Wiebe, MD, FAAP, 1996-2000
Jane
F. Knapp, MD, FAAP, 2000- Index
- Section on Emergency Medicine updated 10/01
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