Abstract

Children present to physician’s offices, urgent care centers or emergency departments for many reasons, not just with presumed severe and/or life-threatening illness. Children might be accompanied by the parentsParents/guardians, neighbors or relatives, babysitters, sometimes bystanders or paramedics. Whatever the severity, an initial assessment is essential. After that assessment, consentConsent is required for all other interventions, unless the patient’s situation is immediately life or limb threatening. ConsentConsent for medical treatment is usually given by a parentParents/guardian. In the case of a minorMinor patient, generally those 14 years of age and older, there must be an assessment of the patient’s capacityCapacity to consentConsent for him or herself. In all situations, the child should be informed about what is being done and why it is being done. Where appropriate, his/her assentAssent should be sought. Some situations require a special approach, such as teenagersTeenagers coming to the emergency department by themselves for care involving mental healthMental health, including addiction, and reproductive issuesReproductive issues. Another special situation is the medical assessment and care of refugeeRefugees children. Some children presenting for urgent/emergent care might have suffered from maltreatment. This fact might be obvious at first or it might become obvious during the initial assessment; in such cases, the help of child protection authoritiesAuthority should be sought and must be sought under the law of most jurisdictions. Severely ill and injured childrenInjured children should have the benefit of evidence-based intervention. Hence, research, with appropriate safeguards and after consentConsent, is needed in emergency situations.