Annals of emergency medicine
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To examine the ability of a unified metropolitan paramedic system to provide IV access in children when indicated. ⋯ Although paramedics had an 84% success rate at establishing IV lines in children in the field, half the children younger than 6 years who required intravascular access did not receive an IV line in the prehospital setting. Multiple IV line attempts should be discouraged because additional attempts yield little benefit and may prolong transport times.
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Clinical Trial
Low-risk criteria for cervical-spine radiography in blunt trauma: a prospective study.
Cervical-spine radiography does not need to be performed on selected blunt trauma patients who are awake, alert, nonintoxicated, do not complain of midline neck pain, and have no tenderness over the bony cervical spine. ⋯ Cervical-spine radiology may not be necessary in patients without spinous tenderness in the neck, intoxication, altered level of alertness, or other severely painful injury. A policy to limit films in such patients would have decreased film ordering by more than one third in this series, while identifying all patients with fracture.
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Adrenaline-cocaine gel topical anesthetic for dermal laceration repair in children.
To evaluate the anesthetic efficacy of a gel form of adrenaline-cocaine topical medication for minor dermal laceration repair. ⋯ Adrenaline-cocaine gel preparation provides excellent anesthetic efficacy for minor dermal lacerations in children. Compared with conventional adrenaline-cocaine liquid, adrenaline-cocaine gel may be advantageous in reducing the total cocaine requirement and may diminish the risk for adverse reactions that can result from runoff of liquid medication onto mucosal or ocular surfaces.
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Intravenous bolus adenosine was given to four pediatric patients aged 1 month to 8 years who had paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia that had not responded to conventional medical therapy. Adenosine (one to three doses) was successful in converting the arrhythmia to normal sinus rhythm in all four cases, and no side effects of the drug were noted.