In a 2-year-old who appears to have had a seizure, the appropriate action is to:

• A. Administer benzodiazepine and transport to hospital
• B. Keep the child cool and transport him to the hospital for physician evaluation
• C. Do nothing and monitor at home
• D. Apply ice packs to the head

Answer: (B)

When a young child has a seizure, the priority is safety and getting medical evaluation promptly. A febrile seizure is a common cause in this age group, but a first seizure can also signal other serious problems, so it’s important to have a clinician assess and rule out meningitis, head injury, or other neurologic issues. Providing fever control measures (keeping the child cool and using fever-reducing meds as appropriate) is reasonable as part of supportive care, but the critical step is transport to the hospital for physician evaluation to determine the cause and plan further management. In contrast, giving benzodiazepines in the field isn’t routinely indicated for a single, resolved event unless there’s ongoing seizure per protocol, applying ice packs isn’t helpful for seizure management, and doing nothing isn’t appropriate in this scenario.