Suicide is a major public health problem that affects people of all ages, including children. A child's decision to commit suicide is influenced by many social and psychological factors, as well as mental illness and addiction. Aim of this paper is to discuss the large scale of suicidal behaviors among children and adolescents, to select the most common causes and methods of suicide and to present a practical approach to the problem. For this purpose comprehensive review of the literature has been conducted. The most common suicide methods among children and adolescents are: hanging, jumping from a height and poisoning. According to the existing studies, quick reaction in the event of a suicide attempt is essential. The key to life-saving moment is a proper guidance of the child in the emergency department. Children after suicide attempts require long-term care, in which many people are involved like doctors, nurses and parents.

Background: The symptoms of stroke in the pediatric population are less evaluated than in adults. Although certain indicators are characteristic of stroke – acute drooping of the mouth corners, hemiparesis, and headache – they are not pathognomonic. Other diseases may manifest with similar symptoms, such as the first episode of hemiplegic migraine, and should be differentiated from stroke at an emergency department. Aim of the study: We present the differential diagnosis between stroke, transient ischemic attack, and first episode of hemiplegic migraine in a teenager with alarming focal symptoms. Case report: We present a case of 15-year-old patient with acute headache, drooping of the right mouth corners, and hemiparesis of the right upper and lower limb. He was brought by ambulance to the emergency department under suspicion of a stroke. A series of diagnostic tests performed at the Emergency Department did not reveal any vascular incident. Further diagnosis was performed at the Neurology Department. The patient was discharged from the hospital with a suspicion of first attack of hemiplegic migraine or transient ischemic attack. Conclusions: Differentiating stroke from other conditions in young patients is a significant challenge. The stroke diagnostic process in children requires further research to support accurate diagnosis and, if necessary, treatment as rapidly as possible.

Suicide is a major public health problem that affects people of all ages, including children. A child's decision to commit suicide is influenced by many social and psychological factors, as well as mental illness and addiction. Aim of this paper is to discuss the large scale of suicidal behaviors among children and adolescents, to select the most common causes and methods of suicide and to present a practical approach to the problem. For this purpose comprehensive review of the literature has been conducted. The most common suicide methods among children and adolescents are: hanging, jumping from a height and poisoning. According to the existing studies, quick reaction in the event of a suicide attempt is essential. The key to life-saving moment is a proper guidance of the child in the emergency department. Children after suicide attempts require long-term care, in which many people are involved like doctors, nurses and parents.

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Aim: The inadequate system of triage in Emergency Departments leads to the situation in which the personnel is not always able to provide care on time. A regulation determining the conditions of performing triage in Emergency Departments (paragraph 1, section 2) was issued on 27 June 2019. In order to present the level of the fulfilment of rules from the regulation and to determine the level of organization in the Polish health care, the percentage of Emergency Departments which provided the required information on their websites, was examined. Material and methods: The study was conducted in April 2020. 236 websites of hospitals with Emergency Departments were analyzed. The criteria of data retrieval were as follows: 1. The presence of the information concerning the rules of redirecting patients to Primary Health Care/After Hours Medical Centers. 2. The presence of information concerning the time an Emergency Department doctor has to inform the patient about the admission or about refusal to admit a patient. The collected data were statistically analyzed. Each Emergency Department was given the following statuses: “yes”, “no”, or “incomplete”. Results: Information concerning the 1st criterion were available in case of 59 hospitals (25%), while no such information was on the website in Opole and West Pomeranian Provinces. Information concerning the 2nd criterion was placed by 51 hospitals. In 28 cases the information was described as ”complete” and in 23 as “incomplete”. Conclusions: The majority of hospitals failed to observe the obligation to provide the information included in the Regulation.