What differences have you found between caring for adult and pediatric patients?

"Often pediatric patients are very young and can't communicate how they feel properly. Caring for pediatric patients requires good communication skills and attentiveness, including being diligent in looking for nonverbal cues, especially when identifying if a patient is experiencing pain or discomfort. Additionally, you work more directly with family members when treating pediatric patients."

"During my clinical rotation, I worked with adult patients and pediatrics. Through that experience, I learned that pediatrics are a more vulnerable patient group because they can't always properly communicate how they feel, the side effects they are experiencing, or the severity of their pain. Often, pediatric patients are reluctant to take medications, cooperate for blood draws or radiology tests, vaccines or injections, etc., so they require more patience and persuasion!"

Adult patients are able to speak for themselves and make decisions for themselves. They are easier to communicate with and able to do things for themselves. They of course are bigger and a lot of the time easier to perform procedures on. Education with an adult is done 1:1 with the patient. Pediatric patients may not be able to communicate verbally at all, making it very important to pay attention to nonverbal cues. They have small bodies and do not usually understand commands such as hold still which may make it very difficult to perform procedures on. Education for pediatric patients is done with 1 or more family members. Pediatric patients can also get much sicker much faster than an adult patient so it is imperative to be diligent in their care so not to miss any subtle signs of decline in them.