Pediatric emergency care
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Pediatric emergency care · Jun 2003
Factors used by pediatric emergency medicine program directors to select their fellows.
Pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) recently has become a highly competitive subspecialty with twice the number of applicants for positions available. Little information exists on the characteristics that PEM programs desire in their applicants. We sought to assess the factors used by PEM program directors when ranking PEM fellow applicants in the National Resident Match Program (NRMP). ⋯ The results of this study suggest that a rather subjective but uniform prioritization of criteria is used in evaluating PEM program applicants. Awareness of these factors would enable applicants to make a critical self-analysis of their strengths and weaknesses prior to the submission of their applications.
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Pediatric emergency care · Jun 2003
Review Comparative StudyFractures in young children: are physicians in the emergency department and orthopedic clinics adequately screening for possible abuse?
1) To determine whether physicians are sufficiently investigating the cause of fractures in children younger than 3 years and 2) to find out what influences physicians' quality of history taking and documentation necessary to rule out inflicted trauma. ⋯ A large percentage of the charts reviewed contained inadequate documentation to explain the cause of fractures and thereby rule out inflicted trauma. Information in 23% of the charts reviewed aroused suspicion of inflicted trauma. There is a need to ensure that adequate information is obtained and documented in hospital records to rule out inflicted injury. This will require changes in the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of physicians. The use of forms, protocols, and periodic chart review will help to ensure compliance.
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Pediatric emergency care · Jun 2003
The Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN): rationale, development, and first steps.
Since its formal recognition as a medical specialty, the field of pediatric emergency medicine has made substantial advances with respect to its scope and sophistication. These advances have occurred in clinical practice as well as in the research base to improve clinical practice. There remain, however, many areas in emergency medical services for children (EMSC) in the out-of-hospital, emergency department (ED), and hospital settings that suffer from a lack of data to guide practice. ⋯ Among these recognized barriers are low incidence rates of serious pediatric emergency events, the need for large numbers of children from varied backgrounds to achieve broadly representative study samples, lack of an infrastructure to test the efficacy of pediatric emergency care, and the need for a mechanism to translate study results into clinical practice. PECARN will serve as a national platform for collaborative research involving the continuum of care within the EMSC system, including out-of-hospital care, patient transport, ED and in-hospital care, and rehabilitation. This article describes the history of EMSC, the need for a national collaborative research network in EMSC, the organization and development of PECARN, and the work plan for the network.
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Pediatric emergency care · Jun 2003
International pediatric emergency care: establishment of a new specialty in a developing country.
Emergency medicine is being established as a unique and independent specialty throughout the world. Pediatric emergency medicine, however, is a relatively new subspecialty in the United States and a newer subspecialty in the rest of the world. In most of Europe and Asia, this specialty has yet to be developed. ⋯ Hospital clinic systems in this environment provide high-volume and often a high level of acute care. Barriers to improved care include limited specialized training, lack of coordination between departments, and failure to establish a medical records system.
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Pediatric emergency care · Jun 2003
Pediatric emergency department directors' benchmarking survey: fiscal year 2001.
To answer basic questions, using precise definitions, regarding emergency department (ED) utilization, wait times, services, and attending physician staffing of representative pediatric EDs (PEDs). ⋯ Benchmarking of PEM staffing and performance indicators by PEM directors yields important administrative data. PEDs have higher census and admission rates compared with information from all EDs, while their attending staffing, wait times, and rate of patients who leave without being seen are comparable to those of general EDs.