Febrile convulsions are caused when a child's body temperature rises too high, at a very young age they do not have the mechanisms in place to control an exponential rise and a seizure occurs.
Most of the cases I've seen so far haven't been too hair-raising. Most the children had come out of the seizure by the time we arrive and the main course of action is to calm down the parents.
At the moment when I'm travelling to a job I go through my course of action in my head, this of course is based on the call information given, which is not always necessarily correct. When I get a call involving sick children my over riding thought every time is "If they look bad, just pick up and run" Quick assessment is key and generally fairly straight forward:
Crying = Breathing
Pink = Circulation
Moving = Motor function
Open and moving eyes = good GCS (conscious scale)
Floppy, quiet, pale = BAD!
The only occasion I've grabbed a child and got going immediately is when I came across a child still having febrile convulsions. The patient had taken these seizures before and Mum had medication in the house to use in such cases, she had given a small dose and the child had continued to fit so she called us.
All I could do was place the child on the stretcher, open the windows to try and cool him more and hold an oxygen mask above his face. He wasn't fitting continuously and in the breaks between fits he was opening his eyes and reacting to my voice.
Minutes before arriving at the hospital he came out of a seizure and was quiet but reacting to my voice still.
On arrival the doctor opened the back doors............ I went to scoop up the patient to take him in while giving a quick history.
At this moment the patient sat up and gave the waiting resus team a big cheesy grin before grabbing the doctors stethoscope.
Great recovery! Dreading getting my first really ill child though.
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Big Congratulations the Big Sis LoveMushroom (Avoid Anxiety) I am now officially Auntie Ambulance Nut!
Most of the cases I've seen so far haven't been too hair-raising. Most the children had come out of the seizure by the time we arrive and the main course of action is to calm down the parents.
At the moment when I'm travelling to a job I go through my course of action in my head, this of course is based on the call information given, which is not always necessarily correct. When I get a call involving sick children my over riding thought every time is "If they look bad, just pick up and run" Quick assessment is key and generally fairly straight forward:
Crying = Breathing
Pink = Circulation
Moving = Motor function
Open and moving eyes = good GCS (conscious scale)
Floppy, quiet, pale = BAD!
The only occasion I've grabbed a child and got going immediately is when I came across a child still having febrile convulsions. The patient had taken these seizures before and Mum had medication in the house to use in such cases, she had given a small dose and the child had continued to fit so she called us.
All I could do was place the child on the stretcher, open the windows to try and cool him more and hold an oxygen mask above his face. He wasn't fitting continuously and in the breaks between fits he was opening his eyes and reacting to my voice.
Minutes before arriving at the hospital he came out of a seizure and was quiet but reacting to my voice still.
On arrival the doctor opened the back doors............ I went to scoop up the patient to take him in while giving a quick history.
At this moment the patient sat up and gave the waiting resus team a big cheesy grin before grabbing the doctors stethoscope.
Great recovery! Dreading getting my first really ill child though.
_____________________________________________________
Big Congratulations the Big Sis LoveMushroom (Avoid Anxiety) I am now officially Auntie Ambulance Nut!