Pediatric emergency care
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Pediatric emergency care · Jul 2004
Review Case ReportsPatient misidentification in a pediatric emergency department: patient safety and legal perspectives.
Emergency departments across the nation are faced with ever-increasing high volumes, overcrowding, and patient acuity. Along with these growing trends, the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations is instituting new patient safety initiatives to reduce patient medical errors in the hospital setting. The emergency department is one area under great scrutiny with patient identification as primary concern. This article discusses a case study involving patient misidentification in the pediatric emergency department and reviews the legal and safety programs implemented at a children's hospital to improve patient safety outcomes.
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Pediatric emergency care · Jul 2004
Comparative StudyRelevance of type of catheters for central venous pressure measurement.
To compare simultaneous central venous pressure measurements from rigid polyurethane and soft tunneled silicone elastomere catheters. ⋯ Silicone and polyurethane catheters yield similar values of central venous pressures. Permanently implanted silicone elastomere catheters can be used to measure central venous pressure in the emergency setting.
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Pediatric emergency care · Jul 2004
Physician satisfaction with a pediatric observation unit administered by pediatric emergency medicine physicians.
Observation units (OUs) are widely used to care for adults, but little is published about their use in pediatrics. During the planning stages of our pediatric OU, community primary medical doctors (PMDs) expressed concerns about not admitting and managing their own patients in this unit controlled by pediatric emergency physicians. This study surveyed PMDs to determine their satisfaction with the pediatric OU two and a half years after opening. ⋯ The model of an ED-controlled pediatric observation unit received high satisfaction ratings in all areas by community and subspecialty physicians two and a half years after opening. The initial reservations voiced by community physicians have not resurfaced.
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Pediatric emergency care · Jul 2004
Review Case ReportsGas gangrene secondary to Clostridium perfringens in pediatric oncology patients.
To report 2 cases of severe gas gangrene secondary to Clostridium perfringens in pediatric oncology patients. ⋯ Gas gangrene secondary to C. perfringens is an uncommon but life-threatening and limb-threatening condition in pediatric cancer patients. A high index of suspicion in a immunocompromised child with cancer who presents with extremity pain in combination with neutropenia is the key to early diagnosis and may lead to improved survival. This disease requires prompt recognition and aggressive treatment to allow any hope of recovery. Emergency medicine physicians who treat these children should be aware of this severe and potentially fatal infectious process and should not delay treatment or prompt orthopedic surgery consultation.