Analysis and Application of a Clinical Practice Guideline: Child Passenger Safety
Chamberlain College of Nursing
NR505 Advanced Research Methods
May 2012

Analysis and Application of a Clinical Practice Guideline: Child Passenger Safety Motor vehicle crashes are identified as the leading cause of death in children under 19 years of age across the United States (Sauber-Schatz, West, & Bergen, 2014). Due to the large number of child deaths that occur each year, education regarding the proper use of child passenger safety seats must be provided to families. According to Basco, Hletko, West, and Darden (2009), although death and injury caused by motor vehicle accidents are deemed accidental, they are
Communities often offer car seat clinics at local fire departments or health departments, and the clinics are free of charge. According to The Children’s Hospital of Illinois (2014), car seat clinics are held in Peoria, Illinois on the first Wednesday of the month at one of the fire departments, the second Tuesday of the month at Advanced Medical Transport, and the third Thursday of the month at the Tazwell County Highway Department. Certified car seat technicians run the clinics and are able to ensure that children fit properly in their car seat and that the car seat is installed safely in the car. If the child does not have an appropriate car seat, technicians at the clinic can aide parents in selection of the appropriate car seat and refer families in need to appropriate community resources (Children’s Hospital of Illinois). To promote proper use of car seats and child passenger safety nurses can refer family to community resources and provide information regarding child passenger safety from www.healthychildren.org or www.aap.org (as cited in The Committee on Injury, Violence, and Poison Prevention, 2011).
Implementation
Barriers to implementation of the Child Passenger Safety guideline could occur if physicians and nursing staff resist the use of up to date resources provided by the Healthy Children and American Academy of Pediatrics