Explosive Weapons Trauma Care Collective (EXTRACCT) Clinical Practice Guideline: Resuscitation of Pediatric Blast Injury Patient.

Abstract

Children living in conflict or post-conflict zones are frequently exposed to explosive injuries, with thousands killed and injured every year. The clinical practice guideline from the Explosive Weapons Trauma Care Collective (EXTRACCT) group provides a review of current best practice for the resuscitation of a child who has sustained a blast injury in low-resource settings. An expert literature review of current practice was undertaken. The guideline relates to the specific considerations of pediatric resuscitation of a child with a blast injury in low-resource settings. It aims to provide guidance to all health care professionals working in resource-constrained, secondary-level healthcare contexts. It takes into consideration clinical decision-making and treatment algorithms where resource availability is limited with respect to equipment and materials, subspecialist expertise, and critical care capabilities. The strength of the CPG recommendations is limited by a lack of data on pediatric blast victims. Future work is required, including establishing a blast injury victim registry and clinical trials on blast injury management strategies.