PEDIATRIC HEADACHES: WARNING SIGNS OF AN EMERGENCY AND A THREAT TO THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR CHILDREN (3hr)

Course overview

Nurses who work in both acute and primary care settings will benefit from this course as it covers acute, emergency red flags for infants, children, and adolescents with a headache and also prevention strategies and information about chronic, recurring headaches. The nurse who takes this course does not need to work in pediatrics in order to benefit from this course. A nurse who is working primarily with adults will be able to gain exposure to variation in headache presentation due to the age of the child and be aware of the signs and symptoms of pediatric headache emergencies. LEARNING OBJECTIVES: 1.Identify red flags in clinical presentation and history taking of a child with a headache. 2.Describe the characteristics, signs/symptoms, assessment, and management of different types of headaches in children. 3.Distinguish between primary and secondary headaches. 4.Explain the importance of good history taking with both parent and child. 5.Identify ways to educate parents/children regarding headaches in order to promote headache prevention, decrease headache frequency, reduce the risk of falling and head trauma, and allow children and adolescents to help manage their own headache care through the incorporation of patient education into the nurse’s practice. 6.Lead the effort to provide a child and their family with outside resources such as mental health specialists and counselors in order to treat possible underlying stress, anxiety, and school issues for children who attribute stress to their recurrent headaches. 7.Describe differences in how young children present with headaches versus adults. COURSE OVERVIEW: A headache in a child may be benign or it may signal a medical emergency. How can you tell the difference? What are signs and symptoms specific to infants, children, and adolescents? What in the history or physical exam is crucial to notice quickly and efficiently in order to provide the best care for a child? A nurse may be caring for an infant, child, or adolescent who presents with a headache in either an acute, emergency situation or in a primary care setting. This patient may have a history of regular, recurrent headaches causing a decreased quality of life for the child, or the patient may have a new, acute headache that may indicate serious medical condition such as a head injury, illness, or congenital disease. This course will explore recurrent headaches in children and adolescents, headache prevention strategies, and will describe the acute headache and to identify those with serious or life threatening causes (“red flags”). An exploration of the components of the pediatric history and neurological exam will be discussed. Various examples of primary headaches and secondary headaches will be described. After taking this course, the nurse will be able to identify red flags, describe signs and symptoms specific to children, and be able to distinguish between different types of pediatric headaches. Nurses who are experienced in pediatrics or are completely new to the pediatric population will equally benefit from this course.