There is a dearth of written work relating specifically to the emergency care of the child. Why this should be the case is perhaps not as perplexing as it may initially appear: although children make up between 25% and 30% of the attendance of many emergency departments, constituting approximately 3.5 million attendances a year (Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) 1999, 2007), there has until recently been little specific provision made for them. Whilst not addressing all of the challenges it is hoped that this work will provide some of the necessary knowledge for emergency nurses and nurse practitioners, emergency care practitioners, medical care practitioners, physiotherapy practitioners, pre-hospital staff and medical staff working in emergency departments, minor injury units, walk-in centres, out of hours services and other emergency care settings, that will enable them to enhance the care of the child with minor injury or illness.
