Pediatrics
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Comparative Study
Epidemiologic features of hand-foot-mouth disease and herpangina caused by enterovirus 71 in Taiwan, 1998-2005.
In 1998, an epidemic of hand-foot-mouth disease/herpangina was caused by human enterovirus 71 infection in Taiwan. The underlying factors of widespread emergence of viral infection are unclear. The purpose of this study was to assess the epidemiology of hand-foot-mouth disease/herpangina in Taiwan between March 1998 and December 2005. ⋯ Hand-foot-mouth disease/herpangina is a common disease in Taiwan. Enterovirus 71 infection has emerged as an important public problem causing serious clinical illness and, potentially, death in young children. Vaccine development is recommended for prevention of enterovirus 71 infection in the future.
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In 2004, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians released a clinical practice guideline on the management of acute otitis media that included endorsement of an observation option for selected cases and recommendations of specific antibiotics. We sought to describe primary care physicians' current management of acute otitis media to compare it with the guideline's recommendations and describe trends since 2004. ⋯ Most primary care physicians accept the concept of an observation option for acute otitis media but use it only occasionally. Antibiotics prescribed for acute otitis media differ markedly from the guideline's recommendations, and the difference has increased since 2004.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
A randomized, controlled trial of bedside versus conference-room case presentation in a pediatric intensive care unit.
Case presentation and teaching performed at the bedside are declining. Patients' preference between bedside case presentation and conference-room case presentation is divergent in the literature. Residents seem to prefer the conference room. The objective of this study was to ascertain whether there was a difference of satisfaction and comfort between bedside case presentation and conference-room case presentation for the parents of patients hospitalized in the PICU and for the residents in training in the PICU. ⋯ This study demonstrates the feasibility of a clinical case presentation performed at the bedside in the PICU context that seems to satisfy parents without causing too much discomfort to residents. Thus, bedside case presentation could be a very good teaching strategy in university hospitals.
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Comparative Study
Restless legs syndrome: prevalence and impact in children and adolescents--the Peds REST study.
Restless legs syndrome, a common neurologic sleep disorder, occurs in 5% to 10% of adults in the United States and Western Europe. Although approximately 25% of adults with restless legs syndrome report onset of symptoms between the ages of 10 and 20 years, there is very little literature looking directly at the prevalence in children and adolescents. In this first population-based study to use specific pediatric diagnostic criteria, we examined the prevalence and impact of restless legs syndrome in 2 age groups: 8 to 11 and 12 to 17 years. ⋯ These population-based data suggest that restless legs syndrome is prevalent and troublesome in children and adolescents, occurring more commonly than epilepsy or diabetes.
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Twenty-three million Americans have limited English proficiency. Language barriers can have major adverse consequences in health care, but little is known about whether pharmacies provide adequate care to patients with limited English proficiency. ⋯ Approximately half of Milwaukee pharmacies never/only sometimes can provide non-English-language prescription labels or information packets, and approximately two thirds never/only sometimes can verbally communicate in non-English languages. One in 9 pharmacies that verbally communicate in non-English languages use patients' family members/friends to interpret. Almost half of the pharmacies are dissatisfied with their communication with patients who have limited English proficiency. Community pharmacies are less likely and pharmacies using telephone interpreting services are more likely to be able to verbally communicate in non-English languages. Study findings indicate that improvements in pharmacies' communication with patients who have limited English proficiency may result by increasing the quality and number of non-English languages in existing computer programs, hiring bilingual staff, and using telephone interpreting services when in-person interpreters are unavailable.