Combat Casualty Care for Children: Peculiarities, Problems, and Provisions

Armed Forces doctors are often required to treat children affected in war, combat, and disasters. Tender care & comprehensive tact is needed for children. Acquisition of these qualities comes with knowledge, its application, and practicing skills. Throughout history, children have been victims of armed conflict. War-related injuries are more severe as compared to the civilian sector injuries. Penetrating injuries are associated with significant damage to local structures, whereas blast injuries are associated with less local injury and more multisystem trauma. Children are not small adults. The differences have important practice implications. Identifying and correcting physiological compromise improves outcomes. The examination and vital sign data can be interpreted only if the caregiver has a thorough understanding of normal values. Identification & treatment of what is killing the patient is done in primary survey. Secondary survey, extremity trauma, fracture biomechanics, & burns peculiarities need attention. Care of the injured patient is a dynamic process. Frequent monitoring required for proper response. Small infants have a narrow margin for error. Combat trauma provides multiple opportunities for improvement. Continuation of research will ensure ongoing progress and further improvement in the outcomes of both military and civilian casualties.