Pediatric emergency care
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Pediatric emergency care · Dec 2005
Prescription writing errors in the pediatric emergency department.
To determine the frequency, type, and severity of written prescription (RX) errors in a pediatric emergency department with attention to specialty and level of training of the residents who wrote the RXs. ⋯ RX errors are very common in the pediatric emergency department. Pediatric-specific experience was more influential than level of training on reducing the likelihood of error.
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Pediatric emergency care · Dec 2005
Case ReportsCritical airway obstruction, superior vena cava syndrome, and spontaneous cardiac arrest in a child with acute leukemia.
We report the unusual presentation of a previously healthy girl with sudden cardiopulmonary arrest caused by acute lymphoblastic leukemia and mediastinal involvement leading to acute tracheal and airway obstruction. Despite active resuscitation and mechanical ventilation, she developed severe cerebral edema as a result of cerebral asphyxia. ⋯ Her white cell count spontaneously reverted to reference range without chemotherapy. This report serves to alert clinicians of the oncological emergency of "superior mediastinal syndrome" causing airway and superior vena cava obstruction leading to death in this potentially curable disease.
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Pediatric emergency care · Dec 2005
Case ReportsSeizure in a child after an acute ingestion of levothyroxine.
Unintentional ingestion of thyroid hormone preparations is a common occurrence reported to poison control centers. These incidents rarely result in serious outcomes. We report a case of a tonic-clonic seizure occurring in a child after ingestion of a maximum of 3.6 mg of levothyroxine. ⋯ This is the second case report of a seizure occurring in a child after an unintentional ingestion of levothyroxine. The maximum amount possibly ingested is much lower than that previously reported. Pediatric ingestion of less than 5 mg of levothyroxine may result in serious outcomes.
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Pediatric emergency care · Dec 2005
Case ReportsSeizures in a 20-month-old native of Minnesota: a case of neurocysticercosis.
A 20-month-old child, native of Minnesota, was diagnosed with neurocysticercosis. He had no history of international travel or pork consumption. This case and review of the literature emphasize the need to consider neurocysticercosis in any child with nonfebrile seizures in the United States because international travel and exposure to international travelers have become so common throughout the world.
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Pediatric emergency care · Dec 2005
Procalcitonin as a diagnostic aid in osteomyelitis and septic arthritis.
Plasma procalcitonin (PCT) increases rapidly during bacterial infections but remains low in viral infections and other inflammatory processes. High plasma PCT typically occurs in children with bacterial meningitis, severe bacterial infections, particularly in cases of septic shock or bacteremia, and in renal parenchymal damage. The aim of this study was to test the usefulness of plasma PCT analysis in the diagnosis of osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, and other skeletal inflammatory diseases in pediatric patients admitted because of fever and limping. ⋯ In this study, PCT was found to be a useful marker in the diagnosis of osteomyelitis and not in septic arthritis. A larger group of patients needed to be studied to confirm our findings.