Next up from the top ten articles presented at the recent AAP NCE in San Diego is a secondary analysis from the PECARN head injury study published in Lancet in 2009. I'm sure that most have you have seen a child who hit their head with vomiting as their only symptom. The authors compared children with isolated vomiting versus those with vomiting [...]
Back into the fray once more we go - or should I say back into the colon goes the ileum... Yes, the third article in the top 10 from the 2014 AAP NCE focuses on intussusception. Back when I was an intern™ after a child was reduced with air contrast enema they were subsequently admitted for 24 hours to the [...]
There are numerous techniques that we can use to improve our likelihood of success in performing a lumbar puncture. There is one that has a bit of nuance to it that I thought would be an excellent theme for my latest Why We Do What We Do post. So, without further ado, let's talk about early stylet removal. I'm also [...]
We do some hand-on practice from time to time during our Pediatric Emergency Medicine education sessions. Today we discussed and practiced using the EZ-IO for interosseous needle insertion. For those of you who weren't able to be in chilly Cincinnati, OH here's a video that we put together a little while back.
Let's move on to the next in the series of top ten articles presented at the 2014 AAP NCE in San Diego. Again, I'll review the article and briefly and highlight how you can use the results in the ED. By now, most of us have acknowledged that ultrasound is a fantastic imaging modality for the diagnosis of acute appendicitis. It is not, however the [...]
When I said I would go into the top ten articles presented at the recent AAP NCE in San Diego I meant it. I plan to tackle each article and briefly review the results and try to drive home how this can impact your practice. First up, a steroid alternative for prednisone die-hards. I've you've been a PEMBlog reader for [...]
Another quick reference since these seem to show up on board exams from time to time. The bottom line in any suspected spinal cord injury is immobilization of the C spine with a semirigid collar, and keeping the patient supine. Steroids haven't been proven to be necessarily beneficial, and MRI is the imaging test of choice. Central cord syndrome Incomplete [...]
Think about what you do in the ED? Do you recognize how the following studies have impacted your practice? National Emergency X-Radiography Utilization Study Multicenter, prospective, observational study of patients with blunt trauma for whom cervical spine X-rays were obtained. Get C-spine films if: Patients with abnormal neurologic examination Distracting or painful injury (like a femur fracture) Depressed or altered [...]
Have you read my post on the exam based approach to the patient with a sore throat? Cool, you should also be using the Centor Criteria to help decide who needs to be tested for strep. These criteria can be used to assess the likelihood of bacterial infection in patients with a sore throat. It was studied in adult patients, [...]
Check out my live-tweet of the top ten Pediatric Emergency Medicine articles of the year presentation at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference & Exhibition in San Diego, CA on Saturday, October 11, 2014. I'll be exploring these topics in a more in depth fashion soon and discussing how they wight impact your practice and teaching. [View the story [...]
