This is obviously still an evolving issue, but here is a summary of initial data, along with some preliminary recommendations on the "Kawasaki-like" illness in COVID-19 children. AKA - Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children.
Pulmonary emboli happen in kids too - but for those of you tasked with caring for adults during the COVID-19 pandemic (and beyond) I bring you this podcast episode in collaboration with the POPCoRN Network on PE diagnosis and management.
You can now submit your case for the 2020 PEMPix competition and presentation which is scheduled to be held on Saturday, October 3, 2020 at the AAP National Conference and Exhibition in San Diego, California. Everything you need to submit, including a convenient, secure online form is found at PEMPix.com. Cases can include photographs, radiographic images, videos and more! I have also posted video versions of recent PEMPix presentations on the site as well. The deadline is Sunday June 14th, 2020.
Vasopressor use in the Pediatric Emergency Department has been a moving target for my entire career. Back when I was a resident and fellow we used Dopamine. Then we went to epinephrine because it can be given through a peripheral IV because norepinephrine was too dangerous to run peripherally. But maybe that's not entirely true. I talked about initial pressor choice and more in a recent recorded Zoom conference call with Critical Care Attending Matt Zackoff from Cincinnati Children's. I hope you find his thoughts on vasopressor selection, pitfalls, and the emerging therapies as illuminating as I did.
My only non medical post of the year... Happy 13th Anniversary to my amazing wife. Enjoy the video everyone!
I have partnered with POPCoRN, the Pediatric Overflow Planning Contingency Response Network to deliver content that will benefit those of us who may have been asked to care for adults both in their native habitat, and in our pediatric facilities. Marie Pfarr, a Hospital Medicine physician from Cincinnati Children's delivers some timely content on stroke in adults in this brief, focused episode.
High flow nasal cannula may help infants with bronchiolitis from getting worse. It also might not. What's clear is that the literature has not sufficiently answered all of our questions. There's a lot more that we could stand to learn about this popular therapy.
If you take care of a patient on Zantac (ranitidine) in the ED it is a good idea, regardless of what else is going on right now, to discontinue it and consider another agent.
Which procedures are aerosol generating? This post discusses one approach on how to answer the droplet versus aerosol question in your practice environment.
Status epileptics can be very stressful in the Pediatric Emergency Department. This episode of PEM Currents: The Pediatric Emergency Medicine Podcast focuses on management, and will guide you through the treatment process, starting with benzodiazepines, followed by a discussion of the recent evidence for second line therapy between fosphenytoin, levetiracetam, and valproate.
