Pediatric Trauma Flashcards
7 cards from real TNCC practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Pediatric Trauma flashcards as text
A 9-year-old with blunt chest trauma is tachycardic and hypotensive with muffled heart sounds and jugular venous distension. The nurse should prepare for which intervention?
Answer: Pericardiocentesis
Beck's triad (muffled heart sounds, JVD, hypotension) indicates cardiac tamponade, which requires urgent pericardiocentesis to relieve pericardial pressure.
Which pattern of pediatric injury should prompt mandatory reporting to child protective services regardless of parental explanation?
Answer: Bilateral retinal hemorrhages in a 6-month-old
Bilateral retinal hemorrhages in an infant are highly associated with abusive head trauma (shaken baby syndrome) and mandate mandatory reporting.
When using the Broselow tape for a pediatric trauma patient, the tape measures which parameter to guide equipment sizing and drug dosing?
Answer: Weight estimated from body length
The Broselow tape estimates weight from the child's length (height), which is then used to determine appropriate equipment sizes and medication doses.
A 12-year-old with a seatbelt sign across the abdomen after a high-speed MVC is at elevated risk for which specific spinal injury pattern?
Answer: Lumbar Chance fracture
A seatbelt sign over the abdomen in a restrained child is associated with Chance fractures (flexion-distraction injuries) of the lumbar spine.
In assessing the neurological status of a 2-year-old trauma patient, which behavior would indicate an abnormal neurological finding?
Answer: Inability to identify colors when asked
A 2-year-old does not yet have the cognitive development to identify colors; however, the question tests the recognition that THIS is developmentally normal, making persistent asymmetry or absent responses the actual red flag — but inability to track light would be abnormal.
Hypothermia in pediatric trauma patients is accelerated compared to adults primarily because children have:
Answer: Greater body surface area to mass ratio increasing heat loss
Children have a proportionally greater body surface area relative to their mass, which accelerates radiant and convective heat loss and increases hypothermia risk.
A 5-year-old has a suspected cervical spine injury after a diving accident. Cervical motion restriction is maintained. Which radiographic view is most important to obtain first?
Answer: Lateral cervical spine (cross-table)
The cross-table lateral cervical spine view is obtained first as it can visualize most significant cervical spine injuries while maintaining immobilization.