Pediatric emergency care encompasses a huge body of professional knowledge and expertise administered with compassion. A first ever in Israel competition is being held to promote excellence and professionalism in these critical skills — for the benefit of Israel’s children in need of emergency care.

On March 24, Israel’s first countrywide competition will be held between pediatric emergency care teams from across the country, in the area of pediatric and trauma resuscitation in medical emergency situations. The competition focuses on professionalism, learning, formulation, experience, and of course, achievement, and will take place at Rambam Health Care Campus.

Simulation competitions have been practiced for many years in the United States and Europe in the framework of emergency medicine conferences. This competition is being held in Israel at the initiative of Rambam’s Ruth Rappaport Children’s Hospital pediatric emergency care team.

Twelve to fifteen teams from pediatric emergency departments will compete in the early stages of the competition, scheduled for March 24. At the end of the day, two teams will be selected to compete in the final SIM Challenge on the main stage at the annual conference of the Israeli Association of Emergency Medicine on March 26, 2019, in Tel Aviv.

As part of the competition day, each group will have to handle scenarios related to pediatric resuscitation. The scenarios will be simulated using smart dolls that can mimic breathing, have a pulse, and can be connected to a monitor and respond to treatment or lifesaving activities by the competing teams.

During the day, the teams will be able to learn and improve their performance by watching other teams and by conducting a video investigation at the end of each scenario. The competing teams will be comprised of one pediatric emergency care doctor, one pediatrician, and two nurses, similar to the makeup of the teams that receive children in the resuscitation rooms of emergency medicine departments throughout Israel.

All the scenarios performed during the day will be filmed and analyzed using the SIM BOOST software simulation system, assisted by the Berale company (specialists that help operate and manage the debriefing of the simulation system at the National Center for Medical Simulations, and other centers).

The competition is being sponsored in full by Medtronic.