If the pediatric patient is experiencing severe shortness of breath or other emergent symptoms please call 911.
These are some of the most common symptoms in children that require immediate medical care. Look for your child’s symptoms (or something similar) to determine which type of medical care they require.
Reasons to take your child to the emergency room
- Severe difficulty breathing
- Change in responsiveness: seizure, unusually sleepy or difficult to wake, disoriented, or confused
- Excessive bleeding
- Stiff neck and fever
- Continuous rapid heartbeat
- Ingestion of poisonous substance
- Ingestion of excessive medication
- Severe head injury
- Medical device malfunction
- Infant (less than 2 months) with fever
- Severe dental trauma
- Penetrating eye trauma
- Neonatal jaundice
- Severe pain anywhere – especially in the head, neck, back or abdomen
- Deep gaping lacerations
- Extremity injuries with obvious angulation of the bones
