This course equips the healthcare team with critical skills for assessing and managing pediatric trauma. It provides information about pediatric-specific anatomy, physiology, and trauma risks across developmental stages. Learners will explore best practices for identifying life-threatening injuries and assessing shock, respiratory, and neurological complications in children. Key topics include age-specific vital signs, pain assessment tools, and tools like the Pediatric Assessment Triangle (PAT) and Broselow™ Pediatric Emergency Tape. 

This course is designed to equip healthcare professionals with the basic critical skills for managing pediatric trauma in pre-hospital and clinical settings. Focusing on the unique anatomical and physiological differences in children, the course covers essential topics such as field triage, airway management, Pediatric Assessment Triangle, and weight-based medication dosing. Learners will gain insights into best practices for handling high-risk injuries and ensuring patient safety. With a strong emphasis on teamwork, the course integrates knowledge checks to reinforce learning and ensure mastery of key concepts in pediatric trauma care.

Pain is often underestimated and undertreated in the pediatric population due to many factors. As a result, children’s health outcomes are directly impacted without proper recognition and pain management, and quality of life is reduced. Physicians and nursing professionals must learn to assess and treat pediatric pain appropriately while caring for hospitalized children. This course describes the past and future status of pain management in children, pharmacological and non-pharmacological management options, and the complexities of managing pain in special populations.

Concussion is a form of mild traumatic brain injury that is common in children and adolescents. Despite increased awareness about the injury, concussion remains under-reported and under-diagnosed. Nurses and Radiology Technicians must be aware of the identification, diagnosis, and management of concussions in pediatric patients. 

Pediatric ambulatory care consists of well-child checks, preventive care, and the treatment and management of acute and chronic health conditions. Nurses provide holistic care to the pediatric patient by synthesizing their nursing assessments with parent/caregiver concerns. Nurses collaborate with the healthcare team to identify and address common pediatric health problems encountered in the ambulatory care setting.

Perioperative professionals must have a fundamental understanding of the anatomical, physiological, psychological, and emotional differences of children compared to adults and how these differences impact the care needs of pediatric patients in the perioperative period.

Opioid misuse is a leading cause of unintentional injury and death among adolescents and young adults (Hudgins et al., 2019). More than 80% of adolescents who die from an opioid overdose do so accidentally, reflecting in part their lack of understanding and underestimation of the dangers inherent in the misuse of opioid medications (World Health Organization [WHO], 2023).

Along with the increased risk of lethal overdose, adolescents who misuse prescription opioids are at increased risk of severe medical complications that necessitate emergency treatment, progression to drugs with even greater potential for lethality such as heroin, and the development of a substance use disorder (Davis et al., 2020).

The goal of this course is to provide addictions, behavioral health counseling, marriage and family therapy, nursing, psychology, and social work professionals in health and human services with information on the development, prevalence, and treatment of opioid use disorders in adolescent and young adult populations.