At a glance
Virginia's success story highlights how Core SIPP implements, evaluates and disseminates injury prevention strategies into action.
What did Virginia do?
Virginia's Core State Injury Prevention Program (Core SIPP) funding provided support for Every Ride, Safe Ride, an outreach project based on existing evidence in safe transportation of children (STC) principles. The initiative's goal is to equip pediatric and obstetric healthcare providers with the knowledge and resources to assess, screen, provide resources, and address safe transportation through pregnancy to a child's transition to the seat belt. Virginia Core SIPP partnered with the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to provide:
- Healthcare provider education
- Technical assistance for practice assessment, screening, and referrals to STC resources
- Continuing Medical Education and Maintenance of Certification units for completed professional development and quality improvement projects
Two pediatric practices enrolled by AAP participated in the project. Participants included pediatricians and nurses who used the Plan-Do-Study-Act framework and measured improvement in assessment, screening, and caregiver referrals. Virginia Core SIPP sent a pre-participation survey to enrolled providers to measure current screening practices. Participants received a post-survey to measure their responses to technical assistance.
The Every Ride, Safe Ride Project Dashboard displays three primary project measures: safety screenings conducted, use of appropriate restraints, and safety education, separated by child age range of 0-23 months, 2-7 years, and 8–18 years. Separating the data by age made it easier to find opportunities for improvement across different age ranges with different restraint use needs. Practices collected five cycles of data over six months. They submitted data monthly into the Every Ride, Safe Ride dashboard for continuous program assessment. The measures and benchmarks were:
- Safety screenings - Benchmark: Complete STC screening at 50% of all child visits each month.
- Appropriate restraints - Benchmark: 50% of screened seats are the appropriate seat for the age, weight, height, and development of the child.
- Safety education - Benchmark: Complete STC education at 50% of all child visits each month.
How did Every Ride, Safe Ride impact child passenger safety?
Pre- and post-project surveys showed an improvement in provider comfort addressing child passenger safety (CPS) questions and knowing where to refer caregivers for additional resources. Thirty-six percent of providers indicated a commitment to providing CPS education at every routine doctor’s appointment. The biggest barriers to screening and educating at every visit were time constraints and CPS not being a top priority compared to other topics during the visit.
Participants screened a total of 192 patients for safe transportation practices. Practices that received technical assistance from Virginia Core SIPP improved upon their comprehensive screenings and referrals to STC resources. Participating providers exceeded benchmark goals for safety screenings and appropriate restraints.
Data showed that practices generally screened for STC but missed screening opportunities in each age group before the project. Completion rates reached 100% once the project started, with practices more focused on completing their screenings and receiving frequent dashboard feedback. Participation in the project increased caregiver awareness of STC.
Why did Virginia create Every Ride, Safe Ride?
Historical data showed that healthcare providers in Virginia spend less than two minutes educating families on STC principles. Pediatric healthcare providers can support parents and caregivers in improving safety on the roadways. Virginia's long-term partnership with AAP allowed for a collaboration to support the state's healthcare providers to improve how they approach STC during visits.
Virginia Core SIPP's Child Passenger Safety Program provides proper safety seat installation and use education through a community network of Check Stations for children until they transition to the vehicle safety belt. The program includes education, outreach, and addresses financial barriers that limit access to safety devices through the Low-Income Safety Seat Distribution and Education Program. Motor vehicle travel (MVT) related injuries are among the most preventable causes of injury-related death and hospitalization in Virginia for children ages 0-14 years of age. There were 21 MVT related fatalities for children under 15 years of age in 2021. AAP Bright Futures recommends discussing STC practices at every routine doctor's appointment for children 0–18 years of age. This project helped support that recommendation and bolstered Virginia Core SIPP's child passenger safety work.