Intended Audience: Nurses, EMS personnel, and other healthcare professionals

Program Focus: This program teaches nurses and other healthcare professionals to be effective CPS advocates and to serve as resources for their peers, parents and caregivers, and others. It focuses on the use of child restraints for children who are injured or have other special needs and on how to set up hospital-based child passenger safety programs. Note: National certification is not available for this course.

Program Length: Operation Kids for nurses is a two-day course. There are also eight-hour and four-hour formats.

Content: This two-day course provides nurses with a general overview of child passenger safety issues, injury prevention, and the correct use and installation of child restraint systems. They learn about the use of specialized child restraints for children who are injured or disabled and how to set up a hospital-based child passenger safety program. Nurses leave the course with a strong understanding of the importance of child restraint use and the role they can play as community advocates. The course includes opportunities for hands-on practice and a child safety seat inspection. RNs who successfully complete the course are eligible for continuing education credits.

Instructional Staff: This course should be taught by a CPS technician who is nationally certified. Additional staff may be needed for the hands-on portion of the training, which requires an instructor/participant ratio of one to five.

Participant Materials: Materials, such as participant manuals and handouts, are provided by the host agency.

Equipment: Presentation equipment (a PowerPoint or overhead projector) and supplies, as described in the Instructor Guide. A variety of child safety seats, locking clips, and other demonstration materials.

Room Requirements: A room large enough to accommodate tables for the number of students attending with extra space for car seats and hands-on exercises.

Recommended Number of Participants: 20-25 participants

Cost to Host Agency: Costs vary and may include the cost of the facility, instructional team, food, audiovisual equipment, and materials.

Cost to Participants: The cost is at the discretion of the host agency. Participants may be charged a fee to recover expenses, such as instructor fees, materials, food, and rental of meeting space.