st is a medical emergency?
Even healthy children get hurt and sick sometimes. In some cases, you will know that you need straight to the head of the
Emergency room (ER) to the nearest hospital. In other cases, it is difficult to determine whether an injury or
Disease must be treated the attention of a doctor or at home.
Different problems require different care. And if your child needs some sort of medical help, you have many
Options:
Treat the problem at home. Many minor injuries and illnesses, including some cuts, certain types of skin rashes, cough,
Colds, scrapes and bruises can be treated with home care and over-the-counter (OTC) treatments.
Call your doctor. If you are unsure of the level of care your child needs, your doctor - or a nurse in the works
the office - you can decide what steps to take and how.
Visit an urgent care facility. An urgent care facility can be a good option for non-emergencies at night and on weekends when its
Your doctor may not be in the office. In these centers, you can usually get things like X-rays, stitches, and care for
minor injuries that are not life threatening nor require medical attention on the same day.
Visit a hospital emergency room. An ER - also known as Emergency (ED) - can handle a variety of
serious problems, such as severe bleeding, head trauma, seizures, meningitis, respiratory problems, dehydration and
serious bacterial infections.
Call 911 for an ambulance. Some situations are so severe that you need the help of trained medical personnel on the way
to the hospital. These include, for example, if your child: has been in a car accident, a head or neck injury has taken
too much medication and is now difficult to awaken, or is not breathing or blue. In these cases, select 911 for a
Ambulance.
As a parent it can be difficult to call this decision. You do not want to rush to the emergency room if it is not really a
Emergency and can wait until a doctor's appointment. On the other hand, you do not want to hesitate to seek medical help
Attention if your child needs treatment immediately. As you grow your children - and inevitably arise diseases and disasters
- You learn to trust yourself to decide if it is an emergency.
Note that in the cases when you know the problem is minor, it is best to contact your child's doctor, go to an urgent care
Middle, or use at home. ERs can sometimes crowded and it can take a long time for minor issues to take to be treated.
Should I go to the emergency room?
Here are some reasons to go to the emergency room:
if your child has difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
if your child has a change in mental status, such as a sudden had unusually sleepy or difficult to wake,
disoriented, confused or
if your child has a cut in the skin that bleeds and will not stop
if your child has a stiff neck along with fever
if your child has a fast heartbeat that does not slow down
if your child accidentally ingested a toxic substance or too much medication
if your child has more than a minor head injury
Other situations like alarming, but do not require a trip to the emergency room. The following list contains some of the symptoms that
may require you to call your doctor:
high fever
Earache
Pain in the abdomen
Headache that will not go away
Deflection
mild wheezing
persistent cough
When in doubt, call your doctor. Even if the doctor is not available, the office nurse will be able to talk with you and
determine whether you should take your child to the emergency room. On weekends and evenings, doctors information service that
enable them, if you leave a message in contact with you.
Urgent Care Centers
Sometimes an injury or illness is not life threatening but needs medical treatment on the same day. If this is the case,
and your doctor does not have office hours at the time, consider an urgent care facility.
Urgent care centers usually you can walk in without an appointment, just as you would in an ER. But they have
and staffed to treat minor, non-life threatening problems. Patients will be seen in the control of a physician, and may be capable of
X-rays or blood get removed.
Most of these clinics offer extended opening times on evenings and weekends to get the patient to the treatment when the family
Physician is not available. Some are available 24 hours a day, every day.
Some cases in which you take your child to an urgent care center may be the following:
Cuts
minor injuries
Vomiting or diarrhea
Earache
Sore throat
infected insect bites
mild allergic reactions
Suspected sprain or fracture
small animal bites
The doctors who urgently daycare centers often operate on free-standing ER doctors or family physicians who focus on treating
adult and pediatric diseases. Some urgent care centers are staffed by nurse practitioners and physician assistants.
The ERS in many children's hospitals have special sections for treatment of minor injuries and illnesses that are similar
to an urgent care facility.
Find out about the urgent care centers in your area - a situation occurs where you have a go. Your doctor
be able to recommend nearby. In general, you should have a clinic that meets the state licensing
Requirements and is staffed by physicians who are board certified in their specialties, such as pediatrics, family medicine,
or emergency medicine. To accept in addition for you to call some of these clinics, walk-in patients previously to be
seen. It is also a good idea to find out if the center accepts your insurance family.
Talk to your doctor before your child gets sick, emergencies and how to inquire about the medical policy
on addressing unmet medical needs outside of office hours. Having this information ahead of time means one less thing
Worry if your child is sick!