Special Skills for Pediatric Care

Just as adult clothes don’t fit children, emergency medical procedures and medicine doses are different for kids. That’s why Hillsboro Firefighters undergo annual mandatory training on pediatric pre-hospital care. As you know, a fire engine is dispatched any time you call for an ambulance. Strategically located to fight fire, the firefighters are also trained emergency medical technicians (EMT) and often arrive at your medical emergency prior to an ambulance. They can begin life-saving treatment and can often have a patient ready to transport by the time the ambulance arrives. This training helps them recognize the clinical situations that children present with their specific illnesses, traumatic injuries and, in the cases of infants, their inability to communicate to responders about what is wrong.

This week and next week, trainers are presenting a full day of classroom refresher training along with a full day series of skill stations. Each station is designed to test emergency medical skills such as: intubation (insertion of a mechanical breathing tube) and airway management, injury immobilization, and medication dosage calculations for the different age and size children. The emergencies include respiratory issues, traumas, altered levels of consciousness, seizures, burns and toxic exposures along with a host of chronic and acute diseases. The firefighters not only study the physiological aspect of trauma, but the psychological characteristics exhibited by children involved in disasters. Through the use of case lectures, videos, hands-on skill stations using practice props and group scenarios, the firefighters polish their skills at assessment and managing ill or injured children prior to their trip to a hospital.