Prehospital and Emergency Care Perspectives to Define Pediatric Critical Illness and Injury

We gained insights into key gaps in current pediatric triage systems, including limited applicability of existing tools in prehospital settings, variability in comfort with pediatric interventions, and the lack of alignment between paramedic action-based indicators and physician reliance on diagnostic findings. Role-specific experiences influence how critical status is assessed and highlight the value of integrating multidisciplinary insight. These findings inform future work focused on the development of consensus-based outcome measures that align with decision-making across prehospital and hospital environments.