Archives of disease in childhood
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Simplified guidelines for the emergency care of children have been developed to improve the triage and rapid initiation of appropriate emergency treatments for children presenting to hospitals in developing countries. The guidelines are part of the effort to improve referral level paediatric care within the World Health Organisation/Unicef strategy integrated management of childhood illness (IMCI), based on evidence of significant deficiencies in triage and emergency care. ⋯ The triage assessment relies on a few clinical signs, which can be readily taught so that it can be used by health workers with limited clinical background. The assessment has been designed so that it can be carried out quickly if negative, making it functional for triaging children in queues.
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To evaluate performance of a simplified algorithm and treatment instructions for emergency triage assessment and treatment (ETAT) of children presenting to hospital in developing countries. ⋯ The ETAT algorithm and treatment instructions, when carried out by nurses after a short specific training period, performed well as a screening tool to identify priority cases and as a treatment guide for emergency conditions.