Elevating the Importance of Local Elections.

This Viewpoint discusses the reasons why local elections are important and the ways that health care professionals can get involved.

Delirium Screening in Critically Ill Children: Secondary Analysis of the Multicenter PICU Up! Pilot Trial Dataset, 2019-2020.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the patient-level factors associated with performing daily delirium screening in PICUs with established delirium screening practices. DESIGN: A secondary analysis of 2019-2020 prospective data from the baseline phase of the PICU Up! pilot stepped-wedge multicenter trial (NCT03860168). SETTING: Six PICUs in the United States. PATIENTS: One thousand sixty-four patients who were admitted to a PICU for 3 or more days. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Of 1064 patients, 74% (95% CI, 71-76%) underwent delirium screening at least once during their PICU stay. On 57% of the 8965 eligible patient days, screening was conducted. The overall prevalence of delirium was 46% across all screened days, and 64% of screened patients experienced delirium at some point during their PICU stay. Factors associated with greater adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of increased daily delirium screening included PICU stay longer than 15 days compared with 1-3 days (aOR 3.36 [95% CI, 2.62-4.30]), invasive mechanical ventilation as opposed to room air (aOR 1.67 [95% CI, 1.32-2.12]), dexmedetomidine infusions (aOR 1.23 [95% CI, 1.04-1.44]) and propofol infusions (aOR 1.55 [95% CI, 1.08-2.23]). Conversely, decreased aOR of daily delirium screening was associated with female gender (aOR 0.78 [95% CI, 0.63-0.96]), and the administration of continuous infusions of opioids (aOR 0.75 [95% CI, 0.63-0.90]) or ketamine (aOR 0.48 [95% CI, 0.29-0.79]). Neither patient age, the presence of family or physical restraints, or benzodiazepine infusions were associated with daily delirium screening rates. CONCLUSIONS: In the 2019-2020 PICU UP! cohort, across six PICUs, delirium screening occurred on only 57% of days, despite the presence of established practices. Female gender, patients in the early stages of their PICU stay, and patients not receiving mechanical ventilation were associated with lower odds of daily delirium screening. Our results highlight the need for structured quality improvement processes to both standardize and increase the frequency of delirium screening.

Firearm Injury Prevention Advocacy: Lessons Learned and Future Directions.

Injuries and deaths due to firearms in children and young adults is a public health crisis in the United States. Pediatric clinicians are powerful advocates to reduce harm due to firearms. By forming coalitions with legislators on a bipartisan basis, working with government relations teams in the hospitals, and partnering with community allies and stakeholders, pediatric clinicians can work to enact legislation and influence policies at the individual, state, and national levels. This can include advocacy for strengthening Child Access Prevention Laws and firearm safer storage campaigns.

Use of Twitter Amplifiers by Medical Professionals to Combat Misinformation During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Social media is an important tool for disseminating accurate medical information and combating misinformation (ie, the spreading of false or inaccurate information) and disinformation (ie, spreading misinformation with the intent to deceive). The prolific rise of inaccurate information during a global pandemic is a pressing public health concern. In response to this phenomenon, health professional amplifiers such as IMPACT (Illinois Medical Professional Action Collaborative Team) have been created as a coordinated response to enhance public communication and advocacy around the COVID-19 pandemic.

An American Academy of Pediatrics State Chapter Initiative Advocating for Immigrant Children and Families.

The Illinois Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics Refugee Immigrant Child Health Initiative (RICHI), a collaboration of physicians and child advocates, is one of the most robust state chapter programs of its kind. RICHI evolved by tapping into its key demographics to discern both patient needs and providers' skill sets. Although both may be unique to Illinois and its provider base, they can nonetheless provide a framework for creating and guiding state chapters to support the special needs of children in immigrant families. This article illustrates the importance of identifying and analyzing relevant local demographic and policy-related concerns and how to build capacity, connect to local resources, and form key partnerships. [Pediatr Ann. 2020;49(5):e228-e232.].

Study Comparing Traditional Versus Alternative Metrics to Measure the Impact of the Critical Care Medicine Literature.

Our objective was to evaluate the association between traditional metrics such as Impact Factor and Eigenfactor with respect to alternative metrics. The Altmetric Attention Score for the top nine pulmonary and critical care journals was compared with Impact Factor, Eigenfactor, and citations over two time periods (2007-2011 and 2012-2016). There was a significant increase in the Altmetric Attention Score (52 from 2007 to 2011 vs 1,061 from 2012 to 2016; p < 0.001) but no significant differences in Total Citations, Impact Factor, or Eigenfactor. There was a strong positive correlation between citations and Altmetric Attention Score, negative correlations between Eigenfactor and Altmetric Attention Score for most journals, and no clear association between Impact Factor and Altmetric Attention Score. Over time, the digital reach of traditional publications has increased significantly, while no significant increase was noted for the traditional metrics. These findings likely reflect discussions of articles online that are not captured by traditional metrics and hence their impact on the community at large.

Severe ceftriaxone-induced hemolysis complicated by diffuse cerebral ischemia in a child with sickle cell disease.

Ceftriaxone-induced hemolytic anemia is a rare and often fatal phenomenon. We report here the case of a 6-year-old female with sickle cell disease who survived a brisk and profound hemolytic reaction, resulting in hemoglobin of 0.4 g/dL, after ceftriaxone infusion. Ongoing hemolysis was abrogated with aggressive supportive care, but the patient suffered extensive neurologic sequelae as a result of the event. Serologic testing confirmed the presence of ceftriaxone antibodies.