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Paediatric smoke inhalation triage — DipIMC MCQ

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HardEnvironmental MedicinePaediatric smoke inhalation triageDipIMC

A 9-year-old child is at a major incident after smoke inhalation and is not breathing. Resources allow a brief intervention before triage finalisation. What is the triage category?

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Correct answer: A — Open airway and consider five rescue breaths before assigning final category

MITT allows consideration of five rescue breaths in children under 12 who are not breathing after submersion, immersion or smoke inhalation when resources allow. This recognises potentially reversible hypoxic mechanisms. P3 and survivor reception are inappropriate for an apnoeic child. The pearl is that paediatric exceptions are narrow and mechanism-specific.

Reference: NHS England MITT 2023; Resuscitation Council UK Paediatric Guidelines 2025