Pediatric Emergency Playbook

Victims of electrical injuries present either in extremis or as the seeming well patient with insidious, developing disease. A targeted history usually gets you the information you need.     Four main things to find out: 1. Household or Industrial electricity? Household electricity uses alternating current, or AC.  Voltages across the world range anywhere from 100 to 240 V.  Here in North America, most outlets and appliances use 120 volts, which is the measure of electrical tension, or the potential difference in electrical charge. Cut-off between low voltage and high voltage is 1000 V. Industrial energy may be AC or direct current, DC.  DC current propels the victim -- think of this as a blast injury.  The same voltage in AC is three times as damaging as that voltage at DC, because AC causes muscle tetany, and prolonged contact time. 2. What was the likely pathway that current took? Did the current pass through the thorax?  -- Think dysrhythmias.  Through the head or neck?  -- Think damage to the CNS and ri