Journal of pediatric nursing
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Nursing telephone triage is a mechanism whereby parents call for advice and referrals. One common call in pediatrics concerns children's fever, which may be managed at home. Giving parents proper advice may avoid unnecessary visits. ⋯ Data were collected using an existing database to determine parents' preference for location of care before and actual location of care after a call. Of the 110 calls, 73 parents wanted a physician or emergency department visit but 53 followed nursing advice for home care. Findings suggest that although most parents wanted to have their child seen, a majority followed nursing advice for home care.
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The purpose of this study was to describe a population of infants undergoing cardiac surgery at a regional tertiary medical center and the relationship between age, weight, number of other diagnoses, and length of stay in the hospital and presence of complications. Nearly two thirds of the infants in the sample (n = 551; age, birth to 365 days) were younger than 28 days with a modal weight of 3.2 kg. There were 56 defects in the infants and 152 operative procedures studied. ⋯ As operative age increased by 1 day, the odds of complications decreased by 0.63%. The findings from this study can be used as evidence to support care that nurses give to neonates and infants undergoing cardiac surgery. These findings provide support for integration of this information into the informed consent process.
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Injury is the leading cause of death and disability for preschoolers in the United States. Young children suffer disproportionate morbidity and mortality when injured. ⋯ This article includes a discussion of the factors that contribute to preschool unintentional injury occurrence and is based on a combination of epidemiology theory and the health belief model. Evidence-based suggestions for modification of nursing practice are provided.
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Review
Child-to-child unintentional injury and death from firearms in the United States: what can be done?
Children are unintentionally killing and injuring other children at an alarming rate in the United States owing to the accessibility of firearms. Firearms are found in 33-40% of American households with children. Many of those firearms are stored in an unsafe manner, loaded and unlocked, leaving children vulnerable to injury. Health care professionals dedicated to the well-being of the pediatric population must take an active role in protecting our nation's children from unnecessary injury and death owing to the unsafe storage of firearms.