Pediatric emergency care
-
Pediatric emergency care · Feb 2024
Case ReportsFocused Cardiac Ultrasound Diagnosis of Dilated Cardiomyopathy.
We report the case of a 6-year-old boy presenting to the emergency department after a syncopal event during a flu-like illness. Intermittent ventricular tachycardia was noted during Emergency Medical Services transport, and a focused cardiac ultrasound (FOCUS) in the emergency department revealed a dilated left ventricle and left atrium as well as severe global systolic dysfunction. Point-of-care ultrasound findings prompted expedited evaluation and management of this critically ill patient.
-
Pediatric emergency care · Feb 2024
The Role of Advanced Practice Providers in Pediatric Emergency Care Across Nine Emergency Departments.
Advance practice providers (APPs) have been increasingly incorporated into emergency department (ED) staffing. The objective of this study was to describe patient factors that predict when pediatric patient care is provided by APPs and/or physicians. We hypothesized that APPs care for a significant proportion of pediatric patients and are more likely to care for lower acuity patients. ⋯ Advance practice providers cared for more than one third of pediatric patients and tended to care for lower acuity patients and for patients in EDs with less PEM coverage. These data highlight the importance of integrating APPs into initiatives aiming to improve pediatric emergency care.
-
Pediatric emergency care · Feb 2024
Pharmacologic Procedural Distress Management During Laceration Repair in Children: A Systematic Review.
To systematically appraise the literature on the relative effectiveness of pharmacologic procedural distress management agents for children undergoing laceration repair. ⋯ Based on procedural distress reduction, this study favors oral midazolam and oral ketamine. However, this finding should be interpreted with caution because of heterogeneous comparators across studies and minor conflicting results. An optimal agent for procedural distress management cannot be recommended based on the limited evidence. Future research should seek to identify the minimal, essential measures of patient distress during pharmacologic anxiolysis and/or sedation in laceration repair to guide future trials and reviews.
-
Pediatric emergency care · Feb 2024
A Comparison of State-Specific Pediatric Emergency Medical Facility Recognition Programs, 2020.
Prior research suggests that the presence of state-specific pediatric emergency medical facility recognition programs (PFRPs) is associated with high emergency department (ED) pediatric readiness. The PFRPs aim to improve the quality of pediatric emergency care, but individual state programs differ. We aimed to describe the variation in PFRP characteristics and verification requirements and to describe the availability of pediatric emergency care coordinators (PECCs) in states with PFRPs. ⋯ There is variation in state PFRPs, although all prioritize the presence of a PECC. We encourage further research on the effect of different aspects of PFRPs on patient outcomes.