A confidence-building resource for paediatric care

Paediatric patients make up a quarter of all emergency department visits. However, only 10% of 999 calls to UK ambulance services are for children aged 16 years or under (Jewkes, 2001). This discrepancy can be explained by parents transporting children directly to the hospital rather than waiting for an ambulance. However, this results in paramedics infrequently encountering children—particularly those requiring emergency treatment as a result of life-threatening conditions.

Consequently, attending to an ill or injured child can be a stressful experience for paramedics and emergency medical technicians. Fowler et al (2017) even suggest that paramedics experience anxiety and discomfort when managing the paediatric patient. Anxiety and stress are likely a result of education, by focusing primarily on the assessment and management of adult patients despite paediatrics being anatomically, physiologically and developmentally different than adults (Hansen et al, 2015). It appears that many paramedic higher education courses are addressing this gap by including specific paediatric modules but for paramedics who have already qualified, paediatric education is primarily based on their (limited) experience of dealing with paediatric patients hands on.