Emergency Urgent Care: When to Go to an ER: Pediatrics
Anyone can get sick or suffer an injury and it can be scary when you do, but such health issues are more frightening when they involve our kids. Children are particularly prone to illnesses and injuries, from when they are still infants where fevers are common, to when they start to crawl and then walk, where injuries such as cuts, poisonings and many others are common, mostly due to their curiosity. No matter how hard we work to ensure our kids are as healthy and safe as possible, including baby proofing the house, sooner or later, your child will get sick or suffer an injury, it is just one of those sad facts about life. When our kids become sick or get injured, if we are being honest, the situation actually hits parents harder than it does the child, which is saying something given kids are fussy at the best of times hence you expect them to be even more fussy when sick or injured. In such a situation, the panic may make it difficult to know if you need to take your child to an ER such as the highly rated frontlineer.com, or if you could handle the situation at home or even at an urgent care facility or at their doctor’s. This article should therefore be a great resource as it will look to highlight when you should take your child to an ER for pediatrics.
One of the reasons to take your child to an ER for emergency urgent care is if they are experiencing respiratory distress. This is a situation where you child is having difficulties breathing and is having a hard time trying to breath in and out. Red flags to look out for, as per the gurus over at frontlineer.com, as far as breathing problems in children go is if your child is struggling to breathe, is experiencing very rapid breathing, is turning blue, either on their skin, fingertips or lips or you notice tugging of the skin on their ribs when they breathe. Such a situation you should call 911 as soon as possible and have them taken to an ER for emergency urgent care. You should also do the same if your child is choking. They may be choking on something they may have swallowed such as coin, screw among others, or it may be due to another reason, either way, call 911 as soon as possible. You should also call 911 and have your child taken to an ER as soon as possible for pediatrics if they have stopped breathing. This is a very serious situation for obvious reasons.
Fever is also yet another common condition that afflicts children of all ages. You should take your child to the ER if they are under the age of 3 months old and they are presenting with a temperature reading of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit and higher, especially since such children have an underdeveloped immune system. For children over the age of 3 months old, you should take them to the ER if they are presenting with a temperature reading of 102 degrees Fahrenheit and above. You should also keep an eye on vomiting and diarrhea, which is quite common in children. If your child can’t keep anything down, especially fluids, and anything you give them orally just comes out immediately, then you should take them to an ER as soon as possible as per the subject matter experts over at frontlineer.com. You should also take them to an ER for pediatrics if they haven’t urinated for more than 6 hours and as such are having significantly fewer wet diapers than normal, they have a sunken soft spot on their head, they are crying but tear aren’t coming out or if there is blood in their vomit or stool.
Children suffer cuts, wounds and injuries all the time, but not all injuries require a visit to an ER. However, you should take your child to an ER if they are experiencing severe and persistent bleeding after having suffered an injury. Here, if you apply pressure on the wound for more than 15 minutes and the bleeding still can’t be stemmed, then you should have them taken to an ER as soon as possible for emergency urgent care. You should also take your child to an ER if they have a gaping wound whose edges can’t come together or if the wound is deep and exposes underlying tissue including bone. The same should apply to open fractures, where the bone has broken through the skin. If your child hits their head and passes out, even if they regain consciousness soon after, you should take them to an ER as soon as possible as this is a sign of severe concussion which should always be taken seriously. You should also take your child to an ER for pediatrics, with the emergency room pediatric physicians over at the excellent frontlineer.com being among the best out there, if they suffer a sudden loss of speech or vision or if they are suddenly unable to move. Keep an eye out too for signs of a severe allergic reaction such as severe rashes and hives, swelling of the lips and throat among others, all of which should always lead to a visit to an ER.
There are a lot of other reasons why you should take your child to an ER for pediatrics, all of which are discussed in detail over at the highly regarded frontlineer.com, so make sure you check it out.
