General information
Childhood emergencies represent a special medical challenge. This is not least because patients are often not yet able to speak and express their complaints, but urgent, quick action is required in an emergency situation. The most common emergencies in pediatrics are caused by road traffic accidents with craniocerebral injuries, bleeding, and neurological sequelae. Clouding and disturbances of consciousness can be caused not only by an accident but also by numerous metabolic disorders, such as sugar deficiency, reduced sodium levels in the blood, infections, seizure disorders, diabetic ketoacidosis and bleeding. It is important to note that any clouding and unconsciousness is an absolute emergency and must be treated immediately.
Initial measures
The first measure in childhood emergencies is always to safeguard vital functions such as breathing and cardiovascular function. It is important to check the breathing of unconscious children. If the children are still breathing, they should be placed in the stable lateral position.
If they are no longer breathing, they should immediately begin with cardiac massage. It is also important to alert the emergency services as soon as possible. As soon as the rescue service arrives, the parents should be questioned to find out whether the unconsciousness or clouding occurred gradually or suddenly, whether it was the first or repeated occurrence and whether it was combined with nausea, dizziness or headaches.
Symptoms
In most cases, the symptoms have already subsided by the time you arrive at the clinic. However, you should be careful, as febrile convulsions are usually repeated or epilepsy can result. A large area of childhood emergencies are respiratory disorders in childhood.
An asthma attack is characterized by dry breathing sounds (wheezing, humming), the virus-induced pseudo croup attack by inspiratory stridor, shortness of breath and barking cough, the epiglottitis caused by Haemophilus Influenza B by shortness of breath, hotness and lack of voice. A cough that recurs repeatedly indicates that the airways have been blocked by a foreign body. A sudden, acute shortness of breath with wheezing and pulling for an acute obstruction of the airways by a foreign body, which always has to be removed by bronchoscopy. As a result of diarrhea, reduced drinking and heavy sweating, dehydration symptoms with dry mucous membranes and standing skin folds, confusion and coma may occur. An urgent need to restore the fluid balance is absolutely necessary here.
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