Pediatric emergency care
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The aim of this study was to determine the national incidence of facial trauma among toddlers and delineate patterns of injury and their causes. ⋯ The low incidence of facial fractures further supports recommendations against routine imaging in toddler facial trauma and suggests that more focus should be placed on investigating for concurrent traumas and soft tissue injuries where fractures are involved. Our findings highlight prevention opportunities, particularly in furniture-related injuries for toddlers aged 12 to 17 months and sports-related traumas in toddlers aged 3 years. Our study also suggests restricting certain toys from 3-year-old toddlers to decrease the risk of aspiration.
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Pediatric emergency care · Mar 2020
Prioritizing the Care of Critically Ill Children in South Africa: How Does SCREEN Perform Against Other Triage Tools?
Childhood mortality remains unacceptably high. In low-resource settings, children with critical illness often present for care. Current triage strategies are time consuming and require trained health care workers. To address this limitation, our team developed a simple subjective tool, SCREEN (Sick Children Require Emergency Evaluation Now), which is easy to administer, to identify critically ill children. This article presents the development of the SCREEN program and evaluates its performance when compared with other commonly implemented triage tools in low-resource settings. ⋯ The SCREEN tool may offer a simple and effective method to identify critically ill children in low-resource environments.
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Pediatric emergency care · Mar 2020
Ondansetron Prescription for Home Use in a Pediatric Emergency Department.
Ondansetron has been shown to decrease admission rate and the need for intravenous fluids among pediatric emergency department (ED) patients with acute gastroenteritis, but there is limited evidence regarding its use after ED discharge. This study describes prescribing patterns for ondansetron and assesses the effects of ondansetron home prescription on rate of return. ⋯ Home-use ondansetron is widely prescribed in this urban academic pediatric ED for a variety of indications, without effect on 3- or 7-day ED return. Further prospective studies are necessary to determine the efficacy of this practice.
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Pediatric emergency care · Mar 2020
Comparative StudyHow Accurate Are Pediatric Emergency Tapes? A Comparison of 4 Emergency Tapes With Different Length-Based Weight Categorization.
Pediatric emergency tapes have been developed to support paramedics and emergency physicians when dosing drugs and selecting medical equipment in pediatric emergency situations. The aim of this study was to compare the accuracy of 4 pediatric emergency tapes to correctly estimate patient's weight based on a large population of patients. ⋯ The overall accuracy of all 4 emergency tapes tested is poor and including a larger number of weight categories does not necessarily increase accuracy. Other strategies have to be developed to improve weight estimation in pediatric emergency situations.