Helping children to cope: Clinical issues for acutely injured and medically traumatized children

Readers who work with medically traumatized children know the many challenges encountered in caring for them. This article identifies 2 sources of trauma (event-related and iatrogenic) and reviews important clinical considerations. In event-related traumatic injury, the child's processing of the injurious event is a central issue. When tie source of the trauma is iatrogenic (caused by the medical treatment), the development of coping skills becomes a central clinical issue. Steps in the evaluation and intervention process (for both sources of trauma) include reviewing what happened, assessing associated beliefs, using displacement, explaining medical interventions, and helping parents manage their own affect. Furthermore, both sources of medical trauma can be effectively addressed by clinicians using the medical crisis counseling model.