Do you know your ABCs?

When most emergency medical caregivers are asked about the type of patients who truly inspire fear, more often than not, the answer is “children”. Why is there this inverse relationship between the age of the patient and the caregiver's level of anxiety? Perhaps the answer to this question is that while emergency personnel regularly provide medical and trauma care for adults, many of us see critically ill children or pediatric trauma patients only on a rare, if not very rare, basis.2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Recognising the effect of this anxiety has led to ongoing efforts to find ways to minimise the source of these stressors. This article will review the history, present status, and hopeful future of the Broselow tape - which was initially designed to assist in the quick and accurate estimation of weight in cases of pediatric trauma - with a specific focus on its applications for pediatric trauma care.