Difficulty Breathing In Infants And Young Children: An Evidence-Based Approach

Mody, Ameer P. MD, MPH, FAAP
Mahmoud, Guisou MD
Avner, Jeffrey R. MD, FAAP
Cloutier, Robert MD, FAAEM, FAAP

¹Author
²Fellow, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Loma Linda University Medical Center and Children's Hospital, Loma Linda, CA.
³Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Loma Linda University Medical Center and Children's Hospital, Loma Linda, CA.
⁴Peer Reviewers
⁵Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Director, Pediatric Emergency Service, Children's Hospital at Montefiore, Bronx, NY.
⁶Pediatric Emergency Services, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Department of Emergency Medicine, OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital, Portland, OR.

Date of original release: October 31, 2004.

Date of most recent review: October 31, 2004.

See “Physician CME Information” on back page.

Pediatric Emergency Medicine Practice 1(3):p 1-19, October 2004.

You've just come in for the early morning shift. You finish taking sign-outs. As you walk toward the coffee machine, the triage nurse runs by you carrying a toddler in her arms who is coughing, crying, and gasping for air. You follow her to the room, squeeze past two frightened parents, a crying grandparent, two other nurses, and an EMT student trying to get to the child. They are all trying to keep him on the gurney, place monitor leads, a nasal cannula for oxygen, and start looking for IV sites. In the meantime, the child's distress continues to worsen and everyone in the room starts looking at you …