
PEDIATRIC ADVANCED LIFE SUPPORT
The American Heart Association (AHA) offers a course in pediatric advanced life support (PALS) for health care providers who work with children and infants in the emergency room, critical care and intensive care units in the hospital, and out of the hospital (emergency medical services (EMS)). The course teaches healthcare providers how to evaluate injured and ill children, as well as recognize and treat respiratory distress/failure, shock, cardiac arrest, and arrhythmias.
The Principal Age of Pediatric Advanced Life Support
PALS is for infants and children under the age of one (puberty or 8). Adult CPR is applicable after that age, and given body weights (averages), adult doses can be safely applied.
Goal Of PALS
Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) aims to save a life. Your actions can mean the difference between life and death for a child or infant who has suffered a serious injury or illness. PALS is a set of protocols for responding to potentially life-threatening clinical events. These responses are intended to be simple enough to be committed to memory and recalled during stressful situations. PALS providers developed guidelines after a thorough review of available protocols, patient case studies, and clinical research, and they reflect the consensus opinion of field experts. The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation’s course curriculum is the gold standard in the United States and many other countries (ILCOR). thorough examination. This handbook based on the latest ILCOR PALS publication and shall compare previous and new recommendations on a regular basis for a more comprehensive review.
Any provider attempting to perform PALS presumed to have developed and maintained competence not only with the materials presented in this handbook, but also with certain physical skills, including Basic Life Support (BLS) interventions. Because PALS used on children and infants, PALS providers should be familiar with BLS for these age groups. While we go over the fundamentals of pediatric CPR, providers have to keep their physical skills sharp and to seek additional training if necessary.
PALS use requires a rapid and accurate assessment of the child or infant’s clinical condition, as well as the selection and delivery of the appropriate intervention for the given situation. This applies not only to the provider’s initial assessment of a distressed child or infant, but also to reassessment throughout the course of treatment using PALS guidelines.
PALS protocols assume that the provider may not have all of the information required from the child or infant, or all of the resources required to use PALS properly in all cases. If a provider is using PALS on the side of the road, for example, they will not have access to sophisticated devices to measure breathing or arterial blood pressure.
PALS use requires a rapid and accurate assessment of the child or infant’s clinical condition, as well as the selection and delivery of the appropriate intervention for the given situation. This applies not only to the provider’s initial assessment of a distressed child or infant, but also to reassessment throughout the course of treatment using PALS guidelines.
PALS protocols assume that the provider may not have all of the information required from the child or infant, or all of the resources required to use PALS properly in all cases. If a provider is using PALS on the side of the road, for example, they will not have access to sophisticated devices to measure breathing or arterial blood pressure.