Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) is an important class nurses, doctors, paramedics, respiratory therapists, or for any healthcare professional who works with infants or children.
Five Reasons Why People Need PALS
1. People need PALS training because children often put themselves at-risk and find themselves in different kinds of emergency situations. They swallow objects that obstruct their breathing. They touch hot radiators and pull down pots of boiling water on themselves. They get their feet crushed in the spokes of bicycles. They stick their extremities in places where they become trapped. They throw themselves into bodies of water and almost drown. Unfortunately, they are sometimes subject to abuse by bigger and stronger people.
2. Besides accidents, children are also subject to medical emergencies like fever, seizures and respiratory emergencies. They develop stomach pains for all sorts of reasons. They are very often afflicted by diarrhea and vomiting and they swallow objects that are poisonous or ingest medicines that are unhealthy in large amounts.
3. PALS training can teach a healthcare provider the best way to respond to a crisis. Often, the adult will respond to a pediatric emergency by panicking. Formal training will help the provider to keep their head and assess the situation as calmly as possible. Healthcare providers can best help the child when they are calm and focused.
4. Some providers think they know what to do for a child who is in an emergency situation but they do not unless they have been properly trained, and their actions may make the situation worse when they are guessing. For example, some people don't know that CPR is not performed on an infant in exactly the same way it is performed on an adult.
5. Supporting the child is crucial while the adult waits for an ambulance or Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) personnel. Sometimes only seconds mean the difference between a child recovering and not recovering.
How To Use It
A person who's taken PALS training knows the value of controlling their emotions and assessing the situation. When Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is performed on a baby, for example, they know to place the child on a hard surface and tilt their head at only a slight angle. The responder can determine a pulse by feeling the brachial artery in the upper arm, not the pulse in the neck as they would an adult. The compressions should be in the middle of the sternum and done by the tips of two or three fingers and not the heels of the hands as one would with an adult. The responder knows to use slow and gentle breaths and give the recommended compressions, with intermittent breaths given at specific intervals.
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