Robin Gilbert – Pediatric Crisis: Mastering Rapid Assessment Skills & Unique Treatment Challenges

Description of Pediatric Crisis: Mastering Rapid Assessment Skills & Unique Treatment Challenges

• Mock Code Blue: Know What to Do
• Critical Lab Values & Blood Gases: The Underlying Issues
• Risky Business: Street Drugs & Thugs
• Pediatric Sedation: Medications & Complications
• Early Clues for Respiratory Distress & Failure
• Fever, Pain, & Skin Rash: How Sick is This Child?

You are caring for a child who presents with severe dyspnea, stridor, retractions, and cyanosis following a snack at daycare. On the monitor, the child’s heartrate is decreasing and oxygen saturations are dropping. His mental status is quickly deteriorating. The physician chooses to intubate. What size ET tube do you anticipate for this child? IV access is not obtainable and the decision is made to start an Intraosseous (IO). You are not sure if you have an IO on your code cart – and you have never used one. The physician orders epinephrine 0.01mg/kg IO. Epinephrine is given, the child develops ventricular tachycardia. Now what…?

This high-anxiety situation just became your worst nightmare. Nothing increases YOUR heartrate more than the pediatric patient who suddenly decompensates. What are your biggest concerns: Calculating the medication dose in a code situation? Managing the airway? Missing the subtle signs that lead to the need for a rapid response? Children have unique differences that require additional assessment skills and interventions. Become confident in your assessment skills and be prepared to handle emergent situations. You will have time to practice mock rapid response scenarios, use Broselow tape, calculate/draw up medications, and review airway management tools. Robin Gilbert, MSN, RN, CEN, CPEN, will teach you strategies to recognize and stabilize life-threatening emergencies that take place in the pediatric population.

What you will learn in Pediatric Crisis: Mastering Rapid Assessment Skills & Unique Treatment Challenges

Objectives of Pediatric Crisis: Mastering Rapid Assessment Skills & Unique Treatment Challenges

1. Analyze case scenarios to determine acuity and prioritization.
2. Differentiate between common rashes and those that require immediate intervention.
3. Interpret lab values and quickly identify potential causes of abnormal values.
4. Determine the unique pediatric needs during presentation of respiratory distress or failure.
5. Assess for causes of neurological deterioration in pediatric patients.
6. Perform sample medication calculations.
7. Discuss nursing responsibilities during the use of moderate sedation.
8. Differentiate between clinical characteristics of acute abdominal diagnoses.

Outline of Pediatric Crisis: Mastering Rapid Assessment Skills & Unique Treatment Challenges

• Abdominal Pain: Appendicitis and Beyond
  • Gastorenteritis
  • Intussusception/Volvulus
  • Pyloric stenosis
  • Testicular torsion/Epididymitis
  • Diaphragmatic hernia
  • Gastroschisis
• The Pediatric Airway
  • Recognizing the child in distress
  • Unique characteristics of the pediatric airway
  • Urgent respiratory conditions
    • Tracheoesophageal fistula
    • Asthma
    • RSV / Bronchiolitis
    • Cystic Fibrosis
    • Chest Trauma
• ALTE vs. BRUE
  • Clinical manifestations
  • Management
• Risky Business: Street Drugs, Tattoos and More
  • What’s trending
    • Amphetamines
    • Cocaine
    • K2, Spice, Molly
  • Implications & interventions
• Fever in the Neonate
  • Sepsis workup & when?
  • Antibiotics for neonate vs. infant
• Head Injuries
  • ICP assessment
  • Skull fractures
  • Concussion/Contusion/TBI
• Bruises & Fractures
  • Does the story fit – or is it maltreatment?
• When a Rash Becomes a Risk
  • Varicella
  • Measles & More
• Lab Values & Blood Gases
  • What impacts the numbers: Identifying potential causes
  • Blood gases simplified
  • Blood glucose, DKA, & insulin protocols
• Hematologic & Coagulation Disorders
  • Sickle cell anemia
  • Hemophilia
• Procedural Sedation
  • Medications and equipment
  • The nurse’s responsibilities
  • Prevention and management of complications
• Pediatric Code Blue: Know What to Do
  • A, B, Cs
  • Arrhythmias
  • Med calculations

About Robin Gilber

Robin Gilbert, MSN, RN, CEN, CPEN, has over 25 years of experience in emergency nursing. She is both a certified emergency nurse and certified pediatric emergency nurse. Robin has extensive experience working in the emergency department, progressive care, intermediate care, transitional care, step-down and, currently, as the regional manager for staff development at Central Maine Medical Center. Robin draws on her expertise to teach her own hospital staff and experienced healthcare audiences throughout the country on a variety of critical care and emergency nursing topics.

She has been an item writer for the Board Certification of Emergency Nursing (BCEN), a former Chairperson of BCEN, and most recently a contributing writer for the current CEN Review Manual. Robin is an active member of the Emergency Nurses Association, the American Nurses Association, Society of Critical Care Medicine, Association for Nursing Professional Development, and is a reviewer for the ANCC’s Pathway to Excellence.

Speaker Disclosures:

Financial: Robin Gilbert has employment relationships with Ebsco, Central Maine Medical Center, Rumford Hospital, Kaplan University, and Fitchburg State College. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.

Non-financial: Robin Gilbert serves as an appraiser for the American Nurses Credentialing Center. She is a member of the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation, and the Emergency Nurses Association.

More courses from the same author: Robin Gilber