The goals of the proposed conference include 1) introducing young pediatric emergency medicine investigators to important concepts on outcomes research, 2) reviewing measures that exist, 3) determining the applicability of those measures to pediatric emergency medicine research, 4) identifying where new measures are needed, and 5) promoting dialogue between health service research from other disciplines and pediatric emergency medicine investigators. A secondary goal is to facilitate opportunities for interaction between staff of Federal programs and pediatric emergency medicine researchers. Building on the 1993 IOM Report on Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC), EMSC developed a 5 year Plan to address children's needs in EMS. One of the important goals of the Plan is to improve and promote research in EMSC. The EMSC program has asked the Ambulatory Pediatric Association (APA) to organize a conference on research methods, in part because of the APA's special expertise and interest in research. The planning process for this conference has been both interdisciplinary and interorganizational. The conference is the culmination of a year of activities by a small planning group representing several national pediatric organizations under a contract from EMSChildren to the APA. The contract called for a meeting to identify and develop plans to overcome barriers to research in pediatric emergency medicine, the final step of which was to plan a National Research Conference. Members of the planning group include the immediate past president and president- elect of the APA, the present and immediate past chair of the Section on Emergency Medicine of the American Academy of Pediatrics who are also APA members, the chair of the Collaborative Research Committee of the Section, the editor of the journal, Pediatric Emergency Care, and organizers of the annual National Pediatric Committee of the Section, the editor of the journal, Pediatric Emergency Care, and organizers of the annual National Pediatric Emergency fellows conference. As the planning group began to organize the details of the conference, it was joined by several health service researchers from non-PEM disciplines as well as by Federal and EMSC research experts. The conference is designed s a 2 + day event. The agenda covers issues relevant to outcomes research such as definition, domains, strengths and weaknesses, the need for standardized and validated measures, the relationship between process and outcome, and the application of measure to pediatric emergency medicine research. There are presentations of several outcomes and outcome modifiers of importance to research in emergency medicine, each followed by a discussion of application of the concept to pediatric emergency medicine. Conference participants will then break into four work groups to discuss the application of measures to four topics high on the list of research priorities developed by an EMSC sponsored consensual panel. Each group will report to the larger conference at intervals throughout their efforts.
