Child passenger safety education for healthcare providers

AAA and the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) have created a new curriculum module that will teach medical and allied healthcare students about the importance of properly restraining children in vehicles. The new module is designed to educate healthcare providers on the critical issue of child passenger safety, and to discuss the role of medical personnel in delivering that information to parents.

“Automobile crashes are the leading cause of death for children ages 3-14 in the United States,” said Aymee Ruiz, national spokesperson for AAA. “Most of these deaths are preventable. Healthcare providers play a pivotal role in guiding parents through the growth and development of their children. By understanding crash dynamics and how restraints work to prevent injury, they will be able to provide better advice to their patients and help save lives.”

Child passenger restraint laws serve as a tool to encourage parents to use child safety seats and booster seats. However, even with the existence of laws, 50 percent of children killed in motor vehicle crashes are completely unrestrained.

“Although every state has child restraint laws in place, they vary greatly and many leave gaps that endanger children,” said Ruiz. “Healthcare providers are in a unique position to offer accurate, straightforward and timely advice to parents that may help save a child’s life.”

“As an organization, AMSA aims to expand medical students’ educational opportunities,” said Jay Bhatt, president, AMSA. “Child passenger safety is just one of the numerous facets of injury prevention that may not be adequately addressed in the standardized health curriculum.

Through this collaboration we hope to provide additional training tools for medical students, as well as all healthcare professionals, that will seek to bridge this gap in education.”

In addition to the new curriculum module for medical students, AAA is conducting research on other tools to help medical practitioners deliver more powerful messages to their patients regarding child passenger safety.

“We are in the beginning stages of a sustained effort to reach out to the medical community with information and assistance designed to help save children’s lives,” said Ruiz.

For more information on AAA’s involvement in child passenger safety and legislation designed to protect children in vehicles, visit www.aaa.com/publicaffairs

As North America’s largest motoring and leisure travel organization, AAA provides more than 49 million members with travel, insurance, financial and automotive-related services. Since its founding in 1902, the not-for-profit, fully tax-paying AAA has been a leader and advocate for the safety and security of all travelers. AAA clubs can be visited on the Internet at www.AAA.com

The American Medical Student Association (AMSA) is the oldest and largest independent association of physicians-in-training in the United States. Founded in 1950, AMSA is a student-governed, non-profit organization committed to representing the concerns of physicians-in-training. With more than 68,000 members, AMSA is committed to improving medical training as well as advancing the profession of medicine. AMSA can be found online at www.amsa.org

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