Resources for Pediatric Healthcare Providers

Pediatric health providers deal with myriad medical issues in children. The issues include child abuse, infections, emergency medicine, accidental poisonings or overdoses and obesity. Providers can get helpful information relating to these issues from official health resource websites.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offer pediatric health providers guidance and information to help providers deal with issues such as influenza epidemics. The website offers resources such as up to date information on the status of vaccines, antiviral drugs, identification and care of pediatric patients, home care guidance and infection control measures.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

• Pediatric health providers can find information on common household products in the event a patient has ingested or otherwise been affected by exposure to a product in the Household Products Database of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The department provides the database in conjunction with the National Institute of Health's National Library of Medicine. The website provides Material Safety Data Sheets for products that give medical professionals a list of ingredients and the potential hazards of a product.

National Institutes of Health

• In the event a patient has swallowed some pills and the health care provider cannot immediately identify the pill, the National Institutes of Health offers a pill identification website. Providers can search pills by name, ingredients, color, shape and size so they can identify the drug correctly for appropriate treatment. The database is a result of a partnership between the NIH and the Food and Drug Administration.

National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality

• Pediatric health care providers can access guidance on dealing with children's obesity issues on the National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality website. The guide includes recommendations for frequency of assessment of children, body mass index measurements and calculations, assessment of risk, assessment of behavior and attitudes to health, recommended laboratory tests, interactions with parents and development of followup approaches.

National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians

• Facilities that provide emergency treatment for children can train their emergency medical technicians and paramedics in pediatric-specific issues by signing them up for the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) Emergency Pediatric Care course. The NAEMT course helps emergency technicians to assess and treat children in emergency situations.

Center for Pediatric Emergency Medicine

• The New York University based Center for Pediatric Emergency Medicine (CPEM) offers guidance on dealing with potential child abuse victims for emergency medical health professionals. The guidance available on the CPEM website offers information on child risk factors, and on methods for recognizing and reporting suspected child abuse cases.