Children with special health care needs are those who have, or are at risk
for, chronic physical, developmental, behavioral, or emotional conditions a
nd who also require health and related services of a type or amount not usu
ally required by typically developing children. Formulation of an emergency
care plan has been advocated by the Emergency Medical Services for Childre
n (EMSC) program through its Children With Special Heath Care Needs Task Fo
rce. Essential components of a program of providing care plans include use
of a standardized form, a method of identifying at-risk children, completio
n of a data set by the child's physicians and other health care professiona
ls, education of families, other caregivers, and health care professionals
in use of the emergency plan, regular updates of the information, 24-hour a
ccess to the information by authorized emergency health care professionals,
and maintenance of patient confidentiality.