[Note: if you have not officially enrolled in this course and want to get CEU credit, please enroll here: http://www.ceu.org/enroll.html. Without this enrollment, the credits cannot be sent to your state board for licensure.]
Introduction

To say that, "Pediatric patients are not just little adults," may seem trite, but it is absolutely necessary for RCPs and other healthcare practitioners to remember this seemingly obvious truth. This phrase has been repeated numerous times to introduce discussions of the special care needs of this unique group of patients, and indeed it is true.

Because of their size and stage of development, the health needs of neonates and other infants are different from those of adults.

Healthcare goals in neonatal care are often primarily designed to provide the opportunity for survival until their body systems can more fully develop, enabling their natural defenses to mature. In the past few decades, pediatric/neonatal care has developed into an important healthcare specialty, complete with highly specialized critical and intensive care equipment, protocols, and facilities.