A national needs assessment revealed that general emergency healthcare professionals primarily want to receive new information through summary documents and professional development opportunities. As a result, TREKK is creating a suite of instantly accessible, easy-to-use educational tools and using social media, educations sessions and conferences to share them with as many general emergency departments, nursing stations and community health centres as possible.
TREKK Co-Directors Dr. Mona Jabbour and Dr. David Johnson lead the development of the following tools for general/community emergency healthcare professionals:
Short summaries of the latest knowledge related to the diagnosis and management of pediatric emergency conditions. These resources are not intended to be used as step-by-step guides; they are ideal for educational purposes and to summarize existing evidence on a given topic in pediatric emergency care. To date, TREKK has created Bottom Line Recommendations for 22 priority conditions in both French and English.
Pediatric Packages (PedsPacs) are intended to be used as step-by-step guides for managing critically ill children. They come as comprehensive bundles of practical tools (e.g., algorithm, order set, transport checklist) to support emergency teams to manage a child with certain conditions.
A research librarian (based at the Alberta Research Centre for Health Evidence) connects with a leading content advisor with expertise in a specific content area (ie; pediatric trauma). The research librarian, content advisor(s), and the TREKK knowledge broker work together to review the most current, evidence-based resources available and develop a 1-2 page summary. Next, the Editorial Committee provides editorial support, expertise, and feedback, ensuring that TREKK resources are up-to-date, evidence-based, accurate, and high quality. Finally, the Editorial Committee reports its feedback and recommendations directly to the Steering Committee for final approval of documents. The KM Advisory Committee, consisting of community emergency department clinicians and researchers, help to prioritize topics and ensure resources remain relevant and useful. To stay up-to-date, our resources are subject to a full review at least every two years.
Read more about our resource development process in this blog: How Does TREKK Translate Latest Evidence Into Useful Bedside Tools?
Tools for parents and families
Our national needs assessment also asked parents about their information needs and preferences when their child is sick or injured. TREKK Co-Directors, Drs. Shannon Scott and Lisa Hartling develop resources for parents and families, including videos, infographics, and eBooks on a variety of topics (e.g. gastroenteritis, needle pain, fever, ear infection, and more). Families are part of the development process from start to finish.