Pediatric emergency care
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Pediatric emergency care · Oct 2009
Comparative StudyComparison of methohexital and pentobarbital as sedative agents for pediatric emergency department patients for computed tomography.
To determine if there are differences in the duration of sedation between pediatric emergency department (PED) patients receiving methohexital and PED patients receiving pentobarbital for the purpose of obtaining a head computed tomographic (CT) scan. ⋯ Methohexital may be superior to pentobarbital for the purpose of sedating PED patients for head CT.
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Pediatric emergency care · Oct 2009
Heelys injuries: a review of the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System data.
The purpose of this study was to describe the types and severity of Heelys-related injuries reported to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS). Strategies for prevention of these injuries may be developed using this information. ⋯ Most injuries sustained from Heelys use are orthopedic injuries. However, a wide variety of other injuries occur with Heelys use. Children can sustain injuries serious enough to require hospital admission. Parents and children should be educated about the importance of protective gear use while "heeling."
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Glass mercury thermometers were once used as the criterion standard for measuring core body temperature. Once broken, however, there is the dual hazard of broken glass and exposure to mercury. Previous studies have focused only on the mercury hazard rather than injuries related to thermometer glass. ⋯ Persistent use of glass mercury thermometers has resulted in pediatric injury especially in children younger than 4 years. We reported the different mechanisms of injury with the hope of eliminating its use and reinforcing the use of alternative thermometers.
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Poison centers frequently receive calls concerning children who are exposed to hand sanitizers. These exposures can occur while the product is being used correctly or when a child has unsupervised access to the container. In 2007, the use of ethanol-containing hand sanitizers in the pediatric population came under media scrutiny owing to an Internet urban legend that resulted in a greater awareness of the potential toxicity of these sanitizers based on their high ethanol content. ⋯ Children in this age group have frequent hand-to-mouth activity and environmental curiosity making the application or availability of a hand sanitizer the perfect situation for an exposure to occur. Although ethanol-based hand sanitizers have the potential to cause toxicity, the benefits of prevention of illness outweigh the hazards when used in a supervised situation.
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Pediatric emergency care · Oct 2009
Factors associated with nontraumatic rhabdomyolysis and acute renal failure of children in Taiwan population.
We evaluated nontrauma causes of rhabdomyolysis and the factors associated with the development of acute renal failure (ARF) of children in Taiwan. We also explored the sex and age characteristics of patients with rhabdomyolysis. ⋯ The series confirmed our clinical expectation and showed that viral myositis accounted for more than half of the cases. Physical exertion was the second. Seizure disorder and sepsis were the third most frequent causes. These findings are consistent with other reports except seizure disorder. Serum creatine phosphokinase and myoglobin were reliable predictors for the development of ARF. We found that children with rhabdomyolysis due to seizure are at highest risk of developing ARF. Our findings also indicate that the rate of ARF with pediatric rhabdomyolysis is in fact much lower than reported previously (8.7%).