Pondering Paeds: Buckle In!

Author: Dr. Katie Knight
I believe that anything we do in the paediatric emergency department should aim for the most streamlined care pathway and least hassle for the child, parent and whole family. Quality improvement projects that change something to achieve the above are right up my street.

I was involved in introducing a new buckle fracture guideline in a department I worked in a while ago, which totally changed the way we dealt with the injury (splinting rather than casting) – kids and parents much preferred the new approach, and the department saved money as well – an all-round win. More information on the project can be found here.

Case 4: Precordial Stab

I am currently on a 3-month elective in Cape Town, South Africa. I'm experiencing an awesome city, sampling a new flavour of emergency medicine, and getting exposed to some regular major trauma (an area of EM I am interested in, but have had minimal experience with so far). On day 3, I was involved in an amazing case…

‘If you want to see major trauma, get yourself to resus!’ shouted the consultant on the floor that day. A 16 year-old boy had been brought in by ambulance. He had been assaulted on the way to school, and his most obvious injury was a stab wound to the left anterior chest.