An interventional study of Video teleconsultation and Audio support in Emergencies, Cardiopulmonary Arrest and Acute Respiratory Failure, sponsored by Boston Medical Center. Recruiting at 9 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 21 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-06-30.
Sponsored by Boston Medical Center · Not applicable, Interventional, and Health services research
In the United States, the current standard of prehospital (i.e. outside of hospitals) emergency care for children with life-threatening illnesses in the community includes remote physician support for paramedics providing life-saving therapy while transporting the child to the hospital. Most prehospital emergency medical services (EMS) agencies use radio-based (audio only) communication between paramedics and physicians to augment this care. However, this communication strategy is inherently limited as the remote physician cannot visualize the patient for accurate assessment and to direct treatment.
The purpose of this pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) is to evaluate whether use of a 2-way audiovisual connection with a pediatric emergency medicine expert (intervention = "telemedical support") will improve the quality of care provided by paramedics to infant simulator mannequins with life threatening illness (respiratory failure). Paramedics receiving real-time telemedical support by a pediatric expert may provide better care due to decreased cognitive burden, critical action checking, protocol verification, and error correction. Because real pediatric life-threatening illnesses are rare, high stakes events and involve a vulnerable population (children), this RCT will test the effect of the intervention on paramedic performance in simulated cases of pediatric medical emergencies.
The two specific aims for this research are:
1,692 studies on the registry are indexed under Emergencies; 333 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 420 is above the median of 145 across 931 interventional studies indexed under Emergencies.
Browse Emergencies studies →Boston Medical Center is the lead sponsor of 314 studies on the registry; 34 are open to participants now.
Of its 34 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 28 (82%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Exclusion Criteria:
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) providers randomized into this arm will receive video teleconsultation with Pediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) physicians.
Other: Video teleconsultation
EMS providers randomized into this arm will receive audio support by usual care Emergency Medicine (EM) physicians.
Other: Audio support
Each team will participate in 4 video-recorded simulated transports in fully equipped ambulances. Each team will provide resuscitative care in 4 simulated high-risk pediatric transports. EMS personnel will provide care in the ambulance while PEM physicians will provide medical direction remotely using video to communicate with EMS personnel via tablet devices.
Each team will participate in 4 video-recorded simulated transports in fully equipped ambulances. Each team will provide resuscitative care in 4 simulated high-risk pediatric transports. EMS personnel will provide care in the ambulance while EM physicians will provide medical direction remotely using audio to communicate with EMS personnel via tablet devices.
Number of Serious Safety Events
Serious safety events are defined as clinical care actions that reach the patient and have the potential to cause moderate-to-severe harm or death. An investigator developed predefined serious safety event checklist developed for each simulated transport scenario will be used to record serious safety events. Serious safety events will be scored as: present, absent, or not observable.
Time frame: Post treatment usually 4 hours
Harm score
The harm score is calculated from the serious safety event checklist for each scenario type. The harm score is the percentage of observable serious safety events that are present among all possible observable serious safety events possible in the checklist. The denominator includes the total number of items measuring observable serious safety events that could occur independently; items scored as non-observable are excluded. For serious safety events that depend on the ABSENCE of a "parent" error (e.g., CPR indicated, but not done"), the denominator for the Harm Score percentage is the total number of observable "child" events (e.g., "Use of compression-only CPR" or "Delayed compressions \>1 minute in unresponsive patient with no pulse"). This is to avoid deflating the harm score for teams where parent SSEs occur, and so child SSEs cannot occur (i.e., are not possible).
Time frame: Post treatment usually 4 hours
Error in medication choice
Errors in medication choice are measured by specific items within the serious safety event checklist. These will be any incorrect type of medication used by a team during simulation, including unanticipated medication choices which raters feel was not indicated or potentially harmful by consensus opinion. This will be reported as the proportion or percentage of items that measure medication choice that were scored as the error being present over all possible items related to medication choice.
Time frame: Post treatment usually 4 hours
Error in weight-based medication dosing
These are measured by specific items within the serious safety event checklist. These will be any error in pediatric weight-based dose calculation, including error in volume of administered drug. This will be reported as the proportion or percentage of items scored as present over all possible items related to weight-based medication dosing.
Time frame: Post treatment usually 4 hours
Equipment size error
These are measured by specific items within the serious safety event checklist. These will be any error in size of equipment used during each case. This will be reported as the proportion or percentage of items scored as present over all possible items related to equipment sizing.
Time frame: Post treatment usually 4 hours
EMS protocol error
These are measured by specific items within the serious safety event checklist. These will be any error, omission or deviation in offline and online EMS treatment protocols that could result in patient harm. This will be reported as the proportion or percentage of items scored as present over all possible items related to selection of appropriate EMS protocols.
Time frame: Post treatment usually 4 hours
Equipment Use Error
These are measured by specific items within the serious safety event checklist. These will be any error in equipment usage during each case. This will be reported as the proportion or percentage of items scored as present over all possible items related to equipment use.
Time frame: Post treatment usually 4 hours
Plan to share: No
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.
Contact study teamGet an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.
Boston Medical Center