• Shannon N Acker and Ann M Kulungowski.
• Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Children's Hospital Colorado, 13123 East 16th Avenue, Box 323, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO 80045, USA.
• Semin. Pediatr. Surg. 2019 Jun 1; 28 (3): 183-188.

AbstractTrauma is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the pediatric population. Due to a variety of factors, many pediatric trauma patients are initially evaluated and stabilized at adult hospitals that lack pediatric specific emergency medicine and surgical expertise. While similar to adult patients, the initial evaluation and resuscitation of pediatric patients does differ. Many of these key differences contribute to missed injury and susceptibility to error in the treatment of children. Here, we highlight a variety of differences between pediatric and adult trauma patients and clarify reasoning for these differences. Error traps that are discussed include missed cases of non-accidental trauma, missed blunt cerebrovascular injury, over use of CT (computed tomography) scans with unnecessary radiation exposure, missed small bowel or mesenteric injury, and unrecognized hemodynamic instability.Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Inc.

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