The management of the acutely injured child can be a daunting task for any junior doctor. This need not be the case if a calm and methodical approach is employed throughout the assessment. The principles of taking a complete history, including the mechanism of injury, will provide indicators as to the pattern of injury, and a thorough examination will confirm your suspicions. The incidence of fractures in children is twice that of adults1 therefore any doctor working in an emergency environment needs to be confident in dealing with the injured child. Paediatric trauma personnel should also have knowledge of advanced paediatric life support, which is beyond the scope of this article and should be read further elsewhere.
Eleanor Clare Carpenter BSc(Hons) MBBCh MRCS PgDip Sports Medicine is a Specialist Registrar in Trauma and Orthopaedics in Morriston Hospital, Swansea. She is currently on the All Wales higher training programme for Trauma and Orthopaedics. She has a subspecialist interest in paediatric orthopaedics. Research interests include sports medicine and metabolic bone health. Conflicts of interest: none declared
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