Pediatric Trauma

Trauma is the leading cause of death for U.S. children aged 1 to 18, surpassing all other causes combined. Pediatric trauma centers are verified to be able to provide the best care for traumatically injured children. The Florida Committee on Trauma Pediatric Trauma Subcommittee is committed to supporting access to resources for families, emergency medical services, referring hospitals, and trauma centers to ensure optimal care for the injured child.

 

In Florida, a pediatric trauma center is a hospital that is verified by the Florida Department of Health to be in substantial compliance with specific pediatric trauma center standards and has been approved by the Florida Department of Health to operate as a pediatric trauma center.

 

All hospitals care for injured patients, but not all hospitals are trauma centers. Emergency departments often treat broken bones, chest pain, minor burns, injuries requiring stiches, and other emergent health matters. Trauma centers treat severely injured patients, often with life threatening injuries. It is often in the emergency department that emergency medicine doctors assess whether an injury needs to be treated in a trauma center.

 

 

Without advanced coagulation studies such as TEG, the use of TXA in Pediatric Trauma, particularly in the pre-hospital setting, does not currently have evidence-based indications. Numerous questions remain as to the appropriate pediatric dose, timing, and specific indications for the use of TXA in the pediatric trauma population. The one recommendation that the FCOT Pediatric Subcommittee can make is that the administration of TXA in pediatric trauma patients in the field for hemorrhagic shock (especially penetrating mechanism) may be of benefit at a dose of 15 mg/kg up to 1 gram over 10 minutes within 3 hours of injury. Further recommendations will be forthcoming, pending the results of the larger, multi-center PECARN TIC-TOC Trial. There is no evidence to support use of TXA in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) or in hemodynamically stable patients.

 

Due to the extreme difficulty diagnosing a foreign body ingestion in the field, button battery ingestion should never be an activation from the field. In transfer, however, once a button battery ingestion is identified, it should be transported by EMS as expeditiously as possible, including as a Trauma Activation depending on local guidelines. In addition, we recommend initiating poison control guidelines prior to transfer at https://www.poison.org/battery/guideline.

 

Electric bicycles are an increasingly popular mode of transportation and recreation. However, their use is associated with a growing number of serious injuries, particularly among children and adolescents. The ACS recognizes the need to address this emerging public safety problem through evidence-based policy and injury prevention strategies. Click Here to read the full statement.

5881 Rand Boulevard

Sarasota, FL 34238

 

3100 SW 62nd Avenue

Miami, FL 33155

 

3001 W. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard

Tampa, FL 33607

 

800 Prudential Drive

Jacksonville, FL 32207

 

 

 

1600 S Andrews Avenue

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316

 

Delray Medical Center

5352 Linton Boulevard

Delray Beach, FL 33484

 

11750 SW 40th Street

Miami, FL 33175

 

1800 NW 10th Avenue

Miami, FL 33136

 

3501 Johnson Street

Hollywood, FL 33021

 

52 W Underwood Street

Orlando, FL 32806

 

901 45th Street

West Palm Beach, FL 33407

 

Tampa General Hospital/Muma Children's Hospital

1 Tampa General Circle

Tampa, FL 33606

 

655 8th Street W

Jacksonville, FL 32209

 

1600 SW Archer Road

Gainesville, FL 32608