Ten Commandments of Pediatric Emergency Medicine
A decade after Wrenn and Slovis gave us the ‘Ten Commandments of Emergency Medicine‘, Timothy Givens proposed the following ‘Ten Commandments of Pediatric Emergency Medicine’ to supplement the originals:
- Children are not small adults
— anatomy, physiology, cognition and emotion varies with age - Ill and injured children regress
— the sick teenager may act like a toddler, give them time and space. - The “patient” might be the one holding the child
- Kids are the real deal
— In the majority of cases, their symptoms are real and not factitious. - Laboratory tests and X-rays seldom beat a good history and physical examination
— investigations are rarely needed - Many hands make light work
— get help with procedures: do it right, do it once. - Check and double-check. then, check again
— especially drug doses - Children feel pain just like you do — treat it
- Close the loop
— Follow-up care is the cornerstone of pediatric care - Above all, you are the child’s advocate
Reference
- Givens T. The Ten Commandments of Pediatric Emergency Medicine. J Emerg Med. 2004 Aug;27(2):193-4.
- Ten Commandments of Clinical Research
- Ten Commandments of Emergency Medicine
- Ten Commandments of Emergency Radiology
Chris is an Intensivist and ECMO specialist at The Alfred ICU, where he is Deputy Director (Education). He is a Clinical Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University, the Lead for the Clinician Educator Incubator programme, and a CICM First Part Examiner.
He is an internationally recognised Clinician Educator with a passion for helping clinicians learn and for improving the clinical performance of individuals and collectives. He was one of the founders of the FOAM movement (Free Open-Access Medical education) has been recognised for his contributions to education with awards from ANZICS, ANZAHPE, and ACEM.
His one great achievement is being the father of three amazing children.
On Bluesky, he is @precordialthump.bsky.social and on the site that Elon has screwed up, he is @precordialthump.
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