Presenter Profile
Kristyn Jeffries, MD, MPH
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Arkansas Children's Hospital
kmelchiors@uams.edu
Dr. Kristyn Jeffries is an assistant professor in pediatrics at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and an attending physician in pediatric hospital medicine at Arkansas Children's Hospital. She completed medical school at Indiana University School of Medicine followed by pediatrics residency at University of Alabama in Birmingham and pediatric hospital medicine fellowship at Children's Mercy in Kansas City. She is co-chair of the Injury Free Social Media committee and helps manage the Injury Free Instagram. She currently serves as the medical director of Infant Child Death Review at Arkansas Children's, a member of the Trainees for Child Injury Prevention Alumni committee, and serves on the Arkansas AAP Chapter Board of Directors. She is passionate about injury prevention and advocacy, and loves when she can share these passions with trainees.
Presentations
ATV Safety Initiative: Providing safety education in rural communities with effective outcomes
Ahran Washington, MHA, BS, NREMT, CPST, CPSI
ShaRhonda J. Love, MPH
Kristyn Jeffries, MD, MPH
Over the past decade, all-terrain vehicles (ATV) have increased in popularity with children and adolescents, especially those living in rural areas in the United States. Youth have 12 times greater risk of ATV related injuries compared to adults, and the incidence of pediatric emergency department visits for ATV related injuries in Arkansas has similarly increased. To improve the ATV safety education among youth in our state, we developed a school-based educational program called Operation Safe T.R.I.P.S.S. that addressed safe ATV riding behaviors for adolescents.
Operation Safe T.R.I.P.S.S. is a school-based, 50-minute, assembly style ATV program adapted from the hospital-based, day-long ATV Safety initiative “Ride on TN” at Vanderbilt and in collaboration with University of Iowa Children’s Hospital. Utilizing the internal and external partnership injury databases of our hospital’s trauma department and Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC), we identified six counties, in rural areas of the state, with higher numbers of ATV injuries, which were subsequently targeted for this program. Participants completed pre- and post-surveys to measure knowledge gained of safe ATV riding behaviors. After completion, participants signed ATV safety pledge cards and had the opportunity to receive ATV safety gear.
Seventeen school presentations were completed between February to May 2025 with a total of 2817 participants. We had 94% pre-survey completion and 74% post-survey completion. Participants had a 21% increase in overall knowledge of ATV safety riding behaviors after the program. The program’s approval was 93% among participants and 63% of participants noted willingness to promote ATV safety with family and friends. Over 90 sets of ATV helmets, goggles and gloves were distributed in addition to 27 Stop the Bleed kits. Participants were referred to our hospital’s Family Resource Center for helmet fittings and further ATV education.
School-based ATV safety education programs, like Operation Safe T.R.I.P.S.S., can have a significant impact by increasing ATV safety knowledge among adolescents in a rural state. The success of this program also led to development of public service announcement that has been displayed across our hospital’s social media platforms to reach a broader audience.
1) Understand the risks of ATV related injuries for youth 2) Describe how ATV safety education can be implemented in a school based program 3) Discuss preliminary outcomes used to assess program effectiveness