More than 30 percent of children, or 20 million patients, now have some kind of long-standing medical problem - representing up to 24 percent of all emergency visits by children under age 18. Referred to as “children with special health care needs,” these patients include children with cerebral palsy, spina bifida, asthma, hemophilia, autism, diabetes, and various genetic disorders.
Many children with special needs have problems that may be completely undetectable by a physician treating the child for the first time. That’s why care may be delayed while an emergency physician searches for the child’s underlying diagnosis or works through a number of options to determine the best treatment.
Even children with easily recognized problems might be difficult to treat when a physician is unfamiliar with their medical histories. For example, a standard medication for most children might complicate the medical condition of a special needs child by causing an allergic reaction or a negative interaction with another medication the child is taking.
Rapid diagnostic and therapeutic advances make it difficult for even the most dedicated practitioners to be completely aware of what every advancement means for every disease in every child. For example, a child may require a new or experimental therapy known only to the child’s specialists. In addition, some children with special health care needs do not respond to standard treatments for their diseases, but have individualized regiments developed for them through years of treatment by their own physicians.
ACEP and AAP developed the “Emergency Information Form for Children With Special Health Needs.” Completing this form and making it available to medical personnel in emergency situations will ensure prompt and appropriate care for children with special health care needs. It will ensure that a child’s complicated medical history is concisely summarized and available when needed most - when the child comes to an emergency department with an acute health problem, especially when a parent or the child’s physician is not immediately available. Parents should complete the form with their child’s physician or specialist.
Parents or caregivers may not always be there to relay important medical information in an emergency. Also, when a child is sick or injured, even the best of parents cannot always be expected to objectively report their child’s long, complex medical history. Parents of children with special needs must have a mechanism in place to relay essential medical information about their child to emergency health care providers, regardless of their presence or immediate capabilities.
Children with special health care needs should care a medical id card and wear medical jewelry to provide vital information in an emergency. CrisisID.com has the form which can be downloaded and a copy completed by the child’s physician it can then be completed on line from which additional copies can be distributed. CrisisID.com suggests copies be distributed to all the following:
- School
- Book Bag
- Nurse
- Teacher
- Physical Education Teacher
- Coaches and Scout Leaders
- Bus Driver
- Book Bag
- All Healthcare Providers
- Relatives
- Friends Parents
- Neighbors
- Additional copies should be placed in family vehicles.
One of the many advantages of CrisisID.com is the ability to easily update and distribute information via email. Prior to special events like school field trips or sporting events copies could easily be printed and distributed for adults accompanying the child.