Comprehensive care is a coordinated, person-centred approach that identifies and manages individual risk factors to support safe, high-quality care. Early recognition of risk enables timely interventions and care planning tailored to each patient's needs.
This page provides paediatric-specific clinical guidance, education resources and quality improvement tools to support the integration of comprehensive care into routine assessment, planning and care delivery, helping clinicians identify and manage risks early to improve safety and outcomes for children.
See Comprehensive care for resources, guidance and tools relevant across all age groups.
Recognising and responding to non‑accidental injuries in children
Lessons from the frontline
Explore our past Paediatric Watch newsletters on non-accidental injuries in children:
Fall and entrapment prevention
Paediatric fall or entrapment in hospital is a relatively rare occurrence, however if a child does fall or becomes entrapped, the consequences may be serious. Most of these incidents can be prevented.
- Paediatric fall and entrapment prevention and management guideline (PDF 777.7 KB)
- Paediatric cot and bed allocation guide (PDF 157.5 KB)
- Post fall guide for health professionals (PDF 131.4 KB)
Information for parents and carers
Discuss paediatric fall and entrapment risks with parents and carers, and support them to understand and implement strategies to prevent harm.
- Poster: Falls prevention (PDF 666.1 KB)
- Fact sheet: Keeping your child safe from falling in hospital (PDF 258.8 KB)
- Poster: Entrapment prevention (PDF 1.5 MB)
- Fact sheet: Keeping your child safe from bed entrapment in hospital (PDF 574.3 KB)
Pressure injury prevention
Some children are at higher risk of pressure injury due to limited ability to communicate discomfort. These injuries can develop rapidly from unrelieved pressure, are painful, slow to heal, and commonly occur under casts, splints, or braces, and around medical devices such as tubes, masks, drains and cannulas.
Information for parents and carers
- Pressure injury prevention for children in hospital (PDF 142.8 KB)
- Poster 1: Take the Pressure Off (PDF 394.8 KB)
- Poster 2: Take the Pressure Off (PDF 219.9 KB)
Babies and children are at risk of injury when peripheral intravenous cannula splints are removed.
- Paediatric Watch: Preventing harm when securing and removing a peripheral intravenous cannula splint (PDF 308.4 KB)
- Poster: Peripheral intravenous cannula securement and removal (PDF 579.8 KB)
End of life
The following tools and resources assist clinicians in caring for children with life-limiting illness and their families:
- Last days of life: Paediatric and neonatal toolkit
- Using resuscitation plans in end of life decisions (PD2014_030). Refer to page 18 for the paediatric resuscitation plan.
- NSW Health palliative care services for children with a life-limiting illness
- End of life care and decision-making
- Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care - End of life care resources