Calculate Demerol for a 9 year-old weighing 80 pounds (Adult dose Demerol 75 mg)

School-age children (6–12 years) are in Erikson’s stage of industry vs inferiority, with increasing independence, curiosity, and peer-driven activity. Cognitive development often includes incomplete risk appraisal, leading to overconfidence, risk-taking behavior, and increased susceptibility to accidental injury.

Rationale:

A. Inability to read labels is not typical for school-age children. Basic literacy develops during this stage, and poisoning risk is more related to curiosity and improper supervision rather than reading inability alone.

B. Reduced interest in family opinions reflects adolescent psychosocial development, not school-age children. This stage is still strongly influenced by family guidance, so this option does not explain injury risk in this age group.

C. School-age children commonly overestimate physical abilities, leading to risky behaviors such as climbing, cycling, or sports activities beyond safe limits. This cognitive misjudgment increases exposure to trauma and accidental injury significantly.

D. School-age children are highly capable of safety education and learning rules. They are not too young to be taught hazard avoidance. Injury risk is not due to inability to understand danger but due to overconfidence and experimentation.

Preschool children (ages 3–6) are in Erikson’s stage of initiative vs guilt, where hospitalization commonly triggers anxiety due to perceived threats to autonomy, unfamiliar separation from caregivers, and misunderstanding of medical procedures.

Rationale:

A. Fear of invasive procedures is more characteristic of older children who can cognitively understand bodily harm. Preschoolers may react to procedures, but their dominant developmental fear is not procedural invasiveness but psychological autonomy disruption.

B. Unfamiliar routines contribute to anxiety but are not the primary developmental fear. Preschoolers adapt to routines through repetition; however, their main distress stems from perceived restriction of independence and control rather than routine unfamiliarity alone.

C. Loss of control is the central fear in preschoolers due to their developing autonomy. Hospitalization restricts choices, separates them from caregivers, and imposes authority, leading to distress, crying, and resistance when faced with procedures like surgery.

D. Restricted mobility may cause frustration, but it is secondary. Preschoolers may not fully conceptualize immobility as the primary threat. Their emotional response is more strongly driven by perceived loss of independence and inability to direct their own actions.