Emergency Care of the Technology-Assisted Child

Integrated community living has become an achievable goal for many medically complex children. For many children with special health care needs (CSHCN), community living means an increased dependence on emergency medical services and emergency departments (EDs) for assistance with acute medical crises. Because transport times to the tertiary care ED can be prohibitively long, the community ED is more likely to become the site of first contact for the management of acute illnesses, exacerbations of chronic illnesses, and equipment-related problems experienced by CSHCN. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that emergency providers working in community as well as tertiary settings be well equipped to handle emergencies experienced by CSHCN. This article reviews common devices and their complications.