Prophylactic antibiotics for children with recurrent urinary tract infections.

Prophylactic antibiotics for urinary tract infections are no longer routinely recommended. A large number of children must be given prophylaxis to prevent one infection and antibiotic resistance is a major concern when treating community-acquired urinary tract infections. The results of three recent significant studies are examined, with focus on the efficacy of prophylaxis, and recommendations are made.

La prophylaxie antibiotique n'est plus recommandée systématiquement en cas d'infections urinaires. Un grand nombre d'enfants doivent recevoir une prophylaxie pour prévenir une infection, et l'antibiorésistance est une préoccupation importante dans le traitement des infections urinaires d'origine communautaire. Les auteurs examinent les résultats de trois grandes études récentes, en s'attardant sur l'efficacité de la prophylaxie, et présentent des recommandations.

Urinary tract infections in infants and children: Diagnosis and management.

Recent studies have resulted in major changes in the management of urinary tract infections (UTIs) in children. The present statement focuses on the diagnosis and management of infants and children >2 months of age with an acute UTI and no known underlying urinary tract pathology or risk factors for a neurogenic bladder. UTI should be ruled out in preverbal children with unexplained fever and in older children with symptoms suggestive of UTI (dysuria, urinary frequency, hematuria, abdominal pain, back pain or new daytime incontinence). A midstream urine sample should be collected for urinalysis and culture in toilet-trained children; others should have urine collected by catheter or by suprapubic aspirate. UTI is unlikely if the urinalysis is completely normal. A bagged urine sample may be used for urinalysis but should not be used for urine culture. Antibiotic treatment for seven to 10 days is recommended for febrile UTI. Oral antibiotics may be offered as initial treatment when the child is not seriously ill and is likely to receive and tolerate every dose. Children <2 years of age should be investigated after their first febrile UTI with a renal/bladder ultrasound to identify any significant renal abnormalities. A voiding cystourethrogram is not required for children with a first UTI unless the renal/bladder ultrasound reveals findings suggestive of vesicoureteral reflux, selected renal anomalies or obstructive uropathy.

De récentes études ont suscité des changements majeurs dans la prise en charge des infections urinaires chez les enfants. Le présent document de principes porte sur le diagnostic et la prise en charge des nourrissons et des enfants de plus de deux mois atteints d'une infection urinaire aiguë, sans affection sous-jacente connue des voies urinaires ou facteurs de risque de vessie neurogène. Il convient d'écarter la possibilité d'infection urinaire chez les enfants atteints d'une fièvre inexpliquée qui ne savent pas encore parler et chez les enfants plus âgés ayant des symptômes évocateurs de ce type d'infection (dysurie, urgences mictionnelles, hématurie, douleur abdominale, douleur lombaire ou nouvelle incontinence diurne). Chez les enfants qui sont propres, il faut faire un prélèvement d'urine à mi-jet pour analyse et culture. Chez les autres, le prélèvement par cathéter ou par ponction sus-pubienne est préconisé. L'infection urinaire est peu probable si l'analyse d'urine est complètement normale. La collecte d'urine dans un sac peut être utilisée pour analyse, mais pas pour culture. Une antibiothérapie de sept à dix jours est recommandée en cas d'infection urinaire fébrile. Si l'enfant n'est pas gravement malade et qu'il est susceptible de recevoir et de tolérer chaque dose, on peut lui donner un traitement initial d'antibiotiques par voie orale. Il faudrait soumettre les enfants de moins de deux ans à une échographie des reins et de la vessie après leur première infection urinaire fébrile, afin de déceler toute anomalie rénale d'importance. Lors d'une première infection urinaire, la cysto-urétrographie mictionnelle (CUGM) est inutile, à moins que l'échographie des reins et de la vessie ne donne des résultats évocateurs d'un reflux vésico-urétéral, de certaines anomalies rénales ou d'une uropathie obstructive.

Canadian medical faculty senior leaders: what skills do they need?

PURPOSE: Many academic leaders have little formal leadership training, which can result in challenges to effective leadership, succession planning and burnout. This paper aims to explore the leadership skills needed to be an effective senior academic leader in a Canadian medical faculty. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: An anonymous voluntary survey of needed leadership skills and supports was sent to 60 senior academic leaders at the University of Alberta. This was followed by interviewing a purposive sample, using open-ended questions based on a multimodal needs assessment of senior academic leaders. The authors used an iterative process to analyze the data; anonymized transcripts were coded and categorized separately by two researchers, and themes were created. FINDINGS: The "ability to influence" was the highest rated needed leadership skill in the survey. The interviewed leaders (n = 12) were unanimous that they felt unprepared at the start of the leadership role. The survey and interviews identified five major themes for leadership skills: Mentoring, Finances, Human Resources, Building Relationships and Protected Time. Networking and leadership courses were identified as major sources of support. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Although a single site study, the results were similar to another large Canadian medical faculty (University of Toronto, Lieff et al., 2013). While the survey had a 42% response rate (25/60), the survey responses were echoed in the interviews. Although the purposive sample was small, the interviewed leaders were a representative sample of the larger leadership group. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: Academic leaders may benefit from a mentorship team/community of leaders and specific university governance knowledge which may help their ability to influence and advance their strategic initiatives.

Dog bites in Canadian children: a five-year review of severity and emergency department management.

OBJECTIVES: Dog bites are a common problem. The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics of dog bites and their emergency department management in a Canadian pediatric population, and to provide treatment and prevention recommendations. METHODS: The charts of all children 10 sutures, n = 69), associated fractures (n = 4), operating room repair (n = 21) or fatality (n = 1). The mean age of children with severe bites was significantly lower than children with mild bites (6.3 v. 7.8 yr, p < 0.01). Most patients were treated solely in the emergency department (84.7%, n = 243); however 44 (15.3%) were admitted to hospital and required a total of 144 days of inpatient care. Signs of infection were described in 16 cases (5.6%); of these 8 had received 2 or more prior doses of antibiotics. Public health or police notification was documented in 56 cases (19.5%), and safety or preventive discussion was documented in 3 cases (1.0%). CONCLUSIONS: Dog bites in Canadian children are common, often serious or even lethal, and not always managed ideally. Preventive discussion and public health contact is infrequently documented and likely seldom occurs. In addition to medical care, emergency department staff should provide and document preventive guidance and ensure involvement of public health or police when indicated.

Parent assessment of medical student's skills in ambulatory pediatrics.

BACKGROUND: Partnership with parents is a vital part of pediatric medical education, yet few studies have examined parent attitudes towards learners in pediatric settings. METHODS: Questionnaires were used to determine parent and student assessment of professional and clinical skills (primary outcome) and parent attitudes towards 3rd year medical students (secondary outcome) at the University of Alberta. Chi Square, Kendall's Tau and Kappa coefficients were calculated to compare parent and student responses in 8 areas: communication, respect, knowledge, listening, history taking, physical examination, supervision, and overall satisfaction. RESULTS: Overall satisfaction with medical student involvement by parents was high: 56.7% of all parents ranked the encounter as 'excellent'. Areas of lesser satisfaction included physician supervision of students. Compared to the parent assessment, students tended to underrate many of their skills, including communication, history taking and physical exam. There was no relationship between parent demographics and their attitude to rating any of the students' skills. CONCLUSIONS: Parents were satisfied with medical student involvement in the care of their children. Areas identified for improvement included increased supervision of students in both history taking and physical examination. This is one of the largest studies examining parent attitudes towards pediatric students. The results may enhance undergraduate curriculum development and teaching in pediatric ambulatory clinics and strengthen the ongoing partnership between the community and teaching clinics.

Paediatric hanging and strangulation injuries: A 10-year retrospective description of clinical factors and outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: To identify early clinical factors that are correlated with death or severe disability in paediatric patients who have sustained an injury by hanging or strangulation. METHODS: A retrospective review of all patient records from January 1, 1997, to September 30, 2007, was conducted. Patient records were identified by International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Canada diagnostic codes for asphyxia, strangulation, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, hanging, hypoxemia, hypoxia or anoxia. RESULTS: A total of 109 records were identified. Of these, 41 met the inclusion criteria for the study. Of 19 (46%) children who were pulse-less and received cardiopulmonary resuscitation, 16 died and the survivors were severely disabled. Of the 22 (54%) children who were found with a pulse, 18 made a full recovery. CONCLUSIONS: Children who are pulseless at discovery for hanging injuries are at high risk of death or severe disability. Early clinical and neurophysiological indicators should be applied systematically to best guide clinicians and parents in their decision making.

The effectiveness of different methods of toilet training for bowel and bladder control.

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this report are to determine the following: (1) the effectiveness of the toilet training methods, (2) which factors modify the effectiveness of toilet training, (3) if the toilet training methods are risk factor for adverse outcomes, and (4) the optimal toilet training method for achieving bowel and bladder control among patients with special needs. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, Ovid MEDLINE In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, Ovid OLDMEDLINE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ERIC, EBM Reviews, HealthSTAR, AMED, Web of Science, Biological Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, OCLC ProceedingsFirst, OCLC PapersFirst, Dissertation Abstracts, Index to Theses, National Research Register's Projects Database, and trials registers. REVIEW METHODS: Two reviewers assessed the studies for inclusion. Studies were included if they met the following criteria: STUDY DESIGN: RCT, CCT, prospective or retrospective cohort, case-control, cross-sectional or case-series; POPULATION: infants, toddlers, or children with or without co-morbidities, neuromuscular, cognitive, or behavioral handicaps disabilities; INTERVENTION: at least one toilet training method; and OUTCOME: bladder and/or bowel control, successes, failures, adverse outcomes. Methodological quality was assessed independently by two reviewers. Data were extracted by one reviewer and a second checked for accuracy and completeness. Due to substantial heterogeneity, meta-analysis was not possible. RESULTS: Twenty-six observational studies and eight controlled trials were included. Approximately half of the studies examined healthy children while the remaining studies assessed toilet training of mentally or physically handicapped children. For healthy children, the Azrin and Foxx method performed better than the Spock method, while child-oriented combined with negative term avoidance proved better than without. For mentally handicapped children, individual training was superior to group methods; relaxation techniques proved more efficacious than standard methods; operant conditioning was better than conventional treatment, and the Azrin and Foxx and a behavior modification method fared better than no training. The child-oriented approach was not assessed among mentally handicapped children. For children with Hirschsprung's disease or anal atresia, a multi-disciplinary behavior treatment was more efficacious than no treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Both the Azrin and Foxx method and the child-oriented approach resulted in quick, successful toilet training, but there was limited information about the sustainability of the training. The two methods were not directly compared, thus it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions regarding the superiority of one method over the other. In general, both programs may be used to teach toilet training to healthy children. The Azrin and Foxx method and operant conditioning methods were consistently effective for toilet training mentally handicapped children. Programs that were adapted to physically handicapped children also resulted in successful toilet training. A lack of data precluded conclusions regarding the development of adverse outcomes.

Renal artery stenosis and nephrotic syndrome: a rare combination in an infant.

We describe an uncommon pediatric finding of unilateral renal artery stenosis, which presented as nephrotic syndrome, hypertension, failure to thrive, and hyponatremia. The child was a previously well 8-month-old male who looked well but had mild periorbital edema with severe hypertension. After 3 days of captopril therapy, the nephrotic-range proteinuria significantly improved. However, the hypertension persisted. Renal imaging revealed a small left kidney with reduced parenchymal uptake and no significant excretion. A renal angiogram demonstrated left renal artery stenosis with increased left renal vein renin activity. The hypertension resolved within 24 h of a left nephrectomy, but non-nephrotic-range proteinuria persisted for 8 months post operatively. Pathology of the left kidney was consistent with fibromuscular dysplasia. Although a few glomeruli (1%) had changes consistent with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, such a few abnormal glomeruli were unlikely to account for the nephrotic syndrome. Hypertension-induced changes in the unaffected right kidney probably caused the nephrotic-range proteinuria.