Prehospital Guidelines Consortium

General Information

The Prehospital Guidelines Consortium (PGC) exists to engage EMS stakeholder organizations, institutions, agencies and leaders in a sustainable process that promotes the development, implementation and evaluation of evidence-based guidelines for prehospital care.

Multiple national organizations are engaged in ongoing efforts to develop, implement and evaluate prehospital evidence-based guidelines (EBGs). The National Prehospital Evidence-Based Guidelines Strategy, developed by the National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP) with involvement of 57 stakeholder organizations, recognized a need to develop sustainable relationships among stakeholders and facilitate collaborative prehospital EBG efforts. The first proposed action of the Strategy was creation of a Prehospital Guidelines Consortium (PGC) representing national medical and EMS organizations that have an interest in prehospital EBGs and their benefits to patient outcomes.

  1. Promote EMS EBG development research
  2. Promote development of EMS EBGs
  3. Promote education related to EMS EBGs
  4. Promote implementation of EMS EBGs
  5. Promote standardized evaluation methods for EMS EBGs
  6. Promote funding for EMS EBGs-related projects

Additional information about the Prehospital Guidelines Consortium and other prehospital EBG resources are available here.

PGC Update: 2025

Projects Completed in 2025 -- PGC Annual Report

  • Complete 2025 Annual Report
  • Current Member and Liaison Organizations
  • Implementation Science Webinars
    The PGC’s Dissemination and Implementation Committee held two webinars on implementation science and EMS. These webinars engaged experts in implementation science and EMS guideline development or implementation to address topics such as barriers and facilitators to implementation, tips for dissemination, and optimal timing for updating guidelines.
                       • Designing EMS Evidence-Based Guidelines for Dissemination
                       • Lessons from the AHA Guidelines
  • Collaboration on Establishing Pediatric Quality Measures
    Members of the PGC collaborated on an effort to establish core quality measures stemming from the Prehospital Pediatric Readiness Project using National EMS Information System data elements. This effort aims to create a pediatric prehospital dashboard to support pediatric QI initiatives. Pediatric prehospital guidelines identified through the PGC’s systematic reviews were used to inform quality measures as part of this project.
  • 2024 Systematic Review of Prehospital Evidence-Based Guidelines
    The PGC published its biennial systematic review of prehospital EBGs. The quality of individual guidelines was appraised to identify if they met the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) criteria for high-quality guidelines and scored across the six domains of the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE) II tool. This review was published in Prehospital Emergency Care (https://doi.org/10.1080/10903127.2024.2412299).
  • 2024 EMS Research Reading List
    Using a modified Delphi approach engaging EMS stakeholder input, the PGC identified a list of top 10 recently published scientific peer-reviewed articles relevant to EMS personnel. This list is being used to inform continued competency activities of the NREMT and other organizations, incorporating newer evidence and research concepts into EMS personnel education and training. Access the Research Reading List with Literature Summaries on the PGC’s website (EBG Resources).
  • Updates to the Prehospital Guideline Repository
    This searchable site provides a listing of prehospital evidence-based guidelines identified in the PGC’s three prior systematic reviews and includes links to 178 published guidelines relevant to EMS clinical care or operations. Available on the PGC’s website (EMS Guideline Repository).

Projects in Progress in 2025-6

  • 2026 Systematic Review of Prehospital Evidence-Based Guidelines
    Through an ongoing collaborative agreement with the National Registry of EMTs (NREMT), the PGC is performing the next biennial systematic review of guidelines related to prehospital care. This review is evaluating guidelines published between 2023 and 2025, including assessing their quality. High quality guidelines are also identified to facilitate dissemination efforts across EMS personnel. All identified guidelines will be incorporated in the PGC’s EMS Guidelines Registry.
  • 2026 EMS Research Reading List
    Also as part of a collaborative agreement with the NREMT, the PGC is in the process of completing a biennial open call for high quality EMS-related research articles that should inform EMS education efforts. These top articles will be summarized for the biennial EMS Research Reading List. Submit articles for the 2026 list at: prehospitalguidelines.org/reading-list-submissions/.
  • Publication about the PGC’s EMS Research Reading Lists
    Members of the PGC’s Research Committee are working on a publication describing the process of creating each biennial EMS Research Reading List, focusing on the 2024 iteration. This will provide a transparent description of its development and will outline the process for subsequent biennial updates.
  • Additional Dissemination and Implementation Science Webinars
    These sessions will combine the expertise of implementation science experts with EMS guideline development experts to inform the EMS community on strategies to maximize the dissemination and implementation of EBGs across EMS systems.
  • Collaboration to create a GIN-McMaster Checklist Extension for out-of-hospital guidelines. The PGC is collaborating on the development of an extension to the Guideline International Network (GIN)-McMaster Guideline Development Checklist (GDC) to assist guideline developers in the creation of robust prehospital guidelines.

For more information and EBG-related resources, please visit the Prehospital Guidelines Consortium website. Anyone interested in being involved in the PGC should contact [email protected]

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