Emergency medical services for children: thirty years of advancing high-quality emergency care for children.

The purpose of this article is to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) program. For the last 30 years, the EMSC has had a significant impact on transforming emergency care for children. The program has contributed to the creation of pediatric emergency medicine as a subspecialty and, importantly, has institutionalized pediatrics into the nation's emergency medical services systems.This article describes the history of the program, its components, and the return on investment over the years. The EMSC has undergone many changes since its inception, and now, because the health care system is rapidly changing, the EMSC must continue to ensure that children and their families receive the best emergency care possible. The EMSC community is poised to envision and adapt its mission to leverage opportunities in this rapidly changing environment to ensure that children receive and continue to receive high-quality emergency care services.