Remember the Red Book
The Red Book is a useful document to take to hospital with a child and their parent(s) (Newell & Darling, 2014: 9).
15 Percent of 7 Year Olds ‘Have Eczema, Asthma or Hay Fever’
Another set of Fast Facts, this time from Newell & Darling (2014) about paediatrics at 7 years old. Useful 'nice to knows' during history taking?
We interrupt these licensed images posts with…
Today, we bring you an incredibly useful alternative to the Wong-Baker FACES pain scale (Wong-Baker Faces, 2016), the 'highly unofficial LEGO Pain Assessment Chart' by Life of Dad (Moles, 2014).
By 5 Years Old 7 Percent of Children Have Had a Seizure
This post is a fast fact on some of the health experiences your patients may have had by the time they are 5. A 'nice to know' that may be useful to bear in mind during history taking.
Choking Doesn’t Always Happen Instantly After Putting Something in Your Mouth
Depending on where an object settles, the patient might have symptoms instantly or days after foreign body inhalation. A croupy cough might not be croup. An infection might not be a simple chest infection. Consider adding these questions to your history taking.
No SOB, No DIB, But It Is Still Pneumonia
Sometimes, children might present with pyrexia and symptoms that don't suggest they have a chest infection. Don't rule out pneumonia in a poorly child who isn't complaining of chesty symptoms - they may have it.
The NEWS Score
According to Shaw et al's study (2017), patients whose conditions were deemed more serious in hospital had arrived with higher NEWS scores. The score for each patient was created from prehospital observations & so could be used to predict patient risk.
Be wary of the quiet child
Remember that the quiet child is often the child who is unwell.
What red flags need to be looked out for in a child?
According to Bruga et al (2013), the red flags to look out for range from those which directly concern a child's vital signs to states such as 'seizures', rashes and 'haemorrhage' (Bruga et al, 2013: 12). For the full list, please see the image below.