Driving to hospital vs. calling 911

Pediatrician Alan Nagar, MD, MHA, Emergency Medicine, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, shares advice for parents on how to decide whether to call 911 or drive your child to the hospital
Pediatric First Aid - Call 911 Or Driving To The Hospital
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Driving to hospital vs. calling 911

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As a parent, trying to decide if you should drive your child to the emergency department or call 911 is sometimes a difficult question to answer. But I would just talk about a caution and that's if your child is truly sick, or has a critical illness, or has severe illness, or is significant trauma, a parent should not drive their child. We've had a number of cases where a child had a seizure in a car, while the parent was driving, the parent turned around to help their child and literally crashed the car en route to the emergency department. So it's best if a parent in those circumstances where a child needs emergency medical treatment to call 911 and to get the necessary pre-hospital help. A paramedic can come to the scene, can intervene and provide first aid or emergency medical interventions, and then the parent can really be a parent. Parents are frequently allowed to ride in ambulances to be able to comfort their child, to be able to talk them through the experience while at the same time allowing the paramedic to do their job. And so I would really recommend that the parent be a parent and the paramedic be the caregiver in that instance.

Pediatrician Alan Nagar, MD, MHA, Emergency Medicine, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, shares advice for parents on how to decide whether to call 911 or drive your child to the hospital

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Alan Nager, MD, MHA

Pediatrician, Emergency Medicine, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Dr. Alan Nager is Head of the Division of Emergency and Transport Medicine at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. He is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. Dr. Nager received his undergraduate degree in Public Heath and Child Psychology, his graduate degree in Healthcare Administration, his medical degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School and his training in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.  He has lectured extensively on a variety of emergency medicine topics, appeared numerous times in the media, and published extensively on topics such as dehydration, trauma, mental health, disaster preparedness, etc. He has also authored a children’s book entitled, Angels in Action: One Day in the Emergency Department.

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Transcription: 
As a parent, trying to decide if you should drive your child to the emergency department or call 911 is sometimes a difficult question to answer. But I would just talk about a caution and that's if your child is truly sick, or has a critical illness, or has severe illness, or is significant trauma, a parent should not drive their child. We've had a number of cases where a child had a seizure in a car, while the parent was driving, the parent turned around to help their child and literally crashed the car en route to the emergency department. So it's best if a parent in those circumstances where a child needs emergency medical treatment to call 911 and to get the necessary pre-hospital help. A paramedic can come to the scene, can intervene and provide first aid or emergency medical interventions, and then the parent can really be a parent. Parents are frequently allowed to ride in ambulances to be able to comfort their child, to be able to talk them through the experience while at the same time allowing the paramedic to do their job. And so I would really recommend that the parent be a parent and the paramedic be the caregiver in that instance.