Prehospital Care Of Pediatric Emergencies

The prehospital care of infants and children presents many unique challenges. This book provides the reader with special topics and techniques for assessment, as well as clear, step-by-step interventions for managing the care of critically ill or injured children. Each chapter provides an assessment-based approach to pediatric emergency care, a wealth of information, and detailed algorithmic formats for providing care to children.

This authoritative reference equips you with the essential knowledge to provide comprehensive and effective care to children in an emergency setting. From age-specific diagnoses and chief complaints through developmental considerations and psychosocial issues, this text guides you through the full range of medical and surgical conditions commonly encountered when treating pediatric emergencies. The use of full color throughout, diagnostic algorithms, text boxes, charts, clinical pearls and pitfalls, and other visual features ensure the book will make crucial clinical information easy to find and apply. Tap into expert guidance on all aspects of pediatric emergency medicine, from the physical exam and usual and unusual presentations through to disposition criteria and transfer issues. Access step-by-step guidance on administering critical life support interventions and providing effective diagnostic and therapeutic ambulatory care. Quickly review specific treatment protocols for various emergency settings, including general emergency departments, community hospitals, tertiary care centers, EMS and transport, and triage. Find information fast with or without a known diagnosis, with content organized both by chief complaints and by specific diagnoses. Better understand how problems present differently in infants, children, and adolescents with age-specific diagnoses. Identify and manage the psychosocial issues surrounding pediatric patients, including major depression and suicidality, sexual and physical abuse, child neglect, and violence. Easily absorb key information with the aid of text boxes, algorithms, clinical pearls, and pitfalls. Retrieve information easily with a consistent templated format.

Children represent a special challenge for emergency care providers, because they have unique medical needs in comparison to adults. For decades, policy makers and providers have recognized the special needs of children, but the system has been slow to develop an adequate response to their needs. This is in part due to inadequacies within the broader emergency care system. Emergency Care for Children examines the challenges associated with the provision of emergency services to children and families and evaluates progress since the publication of the Institute of Medicine report Emergency Medical Services for Children (1993), the first comprehensive look at pediatric emergency care in the United States. This new book offers an analysis of: • The role of pediatric emergency services as an integrated component of the overall health system. • System-wide pediatric emergency care planning, preparedness, coordination, and funding. • Pediatric training in professional education. • Research in pediatric emergency care. Emergency Care for Children is one of three books in the Future of Emergency Care series. This book will be of particular interest to emergency health care providers, professional organizations, and policy makers looking to address the pediatric deficiencies within their emergency care systems.

This book was developed to provide a standard of prehospital pediatric emergency care for both the basic and advanced levels of prehospital providers. Differentiates ALL pediatric emergencies, not just resuscitation. Uses the terminology and practice guidelines of the new EMT-B curriculum. Contains current CPR guidelines for children. Provides basic information about pediatric assessment and emergency conditions. Incorporates family-centered care strategy (dealing effectively with families to provide optimal emergency care for children). Includes a section on children with special health care needs. Contains illustrations and tables throughout the book to highlight key concepts.

How can we meet the special needs of children for emergency medical services (EMS) when today's EMS systems are often unprepared for the challenge? This comprehensive overview of EMS for children (EMS-C) provides an answer by presenting a vision for tomorrow's EMS-C system and practical recommendations for attaining it. Drawing on many studies and examples, the volume explores why emergency care for childrenâ€"from infants through adolescentsâ€"must differ from that for adults and describes what seriously ill or injured children generally experience in today's EMS systems. The book points the way to integrating EMS-C into current emergency programs and into broader aspects of health care for children. It gives recommendations for ensuring access to emergency care through the 9-1-1 system; training health professionals, from paramedics to physicians; educating the public; providing proper equipment, protocols, and referral systems; improving communications among EMS-C providers; enhancing data resources and expanding research efforts; and stimulating and supporting leadership in EMS-C at the federal and state levels. For those already deeply involved in EMS efforts, this volume is a convenient, up-to-date, and comprehensive source of information and ideas. More importantly, for anyone interested in improving the emergency services available to childrenâ€"emergency care professionals from emergency medical technicians to nurses to physicians, hospital and EMS administrators, public officials, health educators, children's advocacy groups, concerned parents and other responsible adultsâ€"this timely volume provides a realistic plan for action to link EMS-C system components into a workable structure that will better serve all of the nation's children.

Pediatric Education for Prehospital Professionals (PEPP) represents a comprehensive source of prehospital medical information for the emergency care of infants and children.

Children are not simply adults. They commonly present with unique problems that are typically not encountered in older patients. These unique problems require the paramedic to alter, to some degree, his or her approach to the sick or injured child. Because a relatively small percentage of EMS calls involve a critically ill or injured child, it is common for the paramedic to experience anxiety when such a call is received. Pediatric Case Studies for the Paramedic contains 20 case studies representing a variety of pediatric emergencies that paramedics may encounter in the field.