The Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network: Progress and Update

The Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN), established in 2001, is the first federally funded national network of emergency departments focusing on research in emergency medical services for children (EMSC). With more than 800000 annual pediatric visits among its 21 participating emergency departments, the network has been able to study important conditions with infrequent or rare outcomes in diverse populations. In this report, we present the accomplishments from the first 4 years of the PECARN, providing details of completed and ongoing studies, major challenges faced and overcome, methods used to measure network progress and success, and future directions. Clin Ped Emerg Med 7: 128-135 (C) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.