Congenital heart conditions present at birth, but can also present within the first month of life. We look at a simplified approach to the assessment and management of patients presenting with symptoms of congenital heart disease. In this video Dr Claire Wilkins, talks about these conditions and spits them into three categories: Patients presenting with SHOCK…
Myocarditis is simply an inflammation of the heart muscle, that can lead to myocardial cell damage, myocardial dysfunction and heart failure. A Recent Case A 15 yo male presents to the emergency department with sharp central chest pain that is worst on inspiration. The pain has woken him from sleep. There is no radiation although…
HOT OFF THE PRESS: A new clinical trial showing that rapid IV fluid administration does not affect neurological outcome in children with DKA, as has previously been thought. Clinical Trial of Fluid Infusion Rates for Pediatric Diabetic Ketoacidosis. N Engl J Med 2018; 378:2275-2287 The Numbers This was a randomised controlled trial in 13 centres….
For years I’ve been speaking about the SIC KID Mnemonic. It’s time to see where we are at in 2017. When was it to be used? To be used as a memory aid in the crying child, where we weren’t sure of the diagnosis. Let me remind you of what the letters stand for: S –…
Minimal Handling Stop touching the patient. Often enough in paediatrics, more is not better. This is of key importance in the younger age group. The more lights/monitors and hands on assessment – the more distressing to the child. The more distress – the greater the effort of breathing becomes. Most children with wheeze are best…
The Case A 9 yo girl is brought into the emergency department, following an episode of syncope. She has a current viral illness and looks miserable. She was walking into the Emergency Department with her mother, when she collapsed. She recovered quickly with no post ictal component but also had no memory of the event, although the…
The Crashing Asthmatic Patient is perhaps one of the most frightening of patients to treat. I’m not talking about the patient that has wheeze and gets five or six nebs and gets better in an hour. I’m talking about the sweaty, drowsy, tiring, non-responsive patient that you know has a good chance of dying. Here…
A BRUE is a Brief Resolved Unexplained Event and has somehow replaced the old term of ALTE, allowing us to identify a lower risk group amongst children. It is a ‘consensus’ decision and although appears helpful may not be so. CASE: A 3 month old is brought in by his parents. He had an episode where…
CEREBRAL OEDEMA: DO WE REALLY KNOW THE CAUSE? We recently had a child with (diabetic ketoacidosis)DKA in our department and the subject of fluid resuscitation came up. Also the Queensland Government guidelines on the Emergency Management of children with DKA has recently been produced. I thought it was timely to revisit a blog I wrote…
Up to 60% of children that come to Emergency Departments with a head injury have a CT brain, even though less than 1% have an injury that truly needs it. That is an important and significant fact!Children are brought into the Emergency Department frequently post a fall, with minor head injury. Sometimes they come directly…
A mother brings her 7 month old son to the Emergency Department, as he has been irritable for the last 2 days. There have been no major problems, apart from the irritability, that she can pinpoint, perhaps some slight feeding issues and some fever two days ago, but that is all. The local doctor had…
Cerebral oedema is the most feared complication in children presenting with Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA). It occurs in about 1% of cases but has a mortality rate of up to 90% (Waldorf J et al Diabetes Care 2006; 29:1150-9). Patients will have a decreased conscious state and may also have cranial nerve palsies, headache and/or bradycardia…
