Job market survey of recent pediatric emergency medicine fellowship graduates.

OBJECTIVES: The American Academy of Pediatrics Section of Emergency Medicine's Subcommittee on Administration developed a survey tool targeting recent pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) fellowship graduates to assess the current PEM job market in a variety of areas including (1) the new positions accepted, (2) perspectives of fellowship training, and (3) the relationship between PEM and general emergency medicine practice. METHODS: The 40-question internet-based survey was developed through www.surveymonkey.com. Solicitations to PEM fellowship graduates who completed training between the years 2000 and 2005 were sent via the Section of Emergency Medicine member e-mail list as well as the PEM LISTSERV. Data collection occurred from April to May 2005. RESULTS: Of 125 survey respondents, 89% completed a 3-year pediatrics residency plus a 3-year PEM fellowship. Offers to graduates of positions with research expectations outnumbered clinical positions, 3:2, with an average of 5 total positions offered per respondent. Thirty-four percent remained at the institution of fellowship graduation, and 71% accepted faculty appointments with medical school affiliation. Seventy percent of work time was spent on clinical duties and 10% on research. Most felt better prepared in the areas of clinical training and teaching than in the areas of research and administration. Additional general emergency medicine exposure was not desired. Half of the respondents felt that a 2-year fellowship program would have met their career goals. CONCLUSIONS: Recent PEM fellowship graduates felt that job availability was good and were satisfied with their new positions. Respondents perceived better fellowship training in clinical and teaching aspects than in research and administration. New positions were heavily clinical and matched career goals.

A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial of phenytoin for the prevention of early posttraumatic seizures in children with moderate to severe blunt head injury.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: We determine the efficacy of prophylactic phenytoin in preventing early posttraumatic seizures in children with moderate to severe blunt head injury. METHODS: Children younger than 16 years and experiencing moderate to severe blunt head injury were randomized to receive phenytoin or placebo within 60 minutes of presentation at 3 pediatric trauma centers. The primary endpoint was posttraumatic seizures within 48 hours; secondary endpoints were survival and neurologic outcome 30 days after injury. A Bayesian decision-theoretic clinical trial design was used to determine the probability of remaining posttraumatic seizure free for each treatment group. RESULTS: One hundred two patients were enrolled, with a median age of 6.1 years. Sixty-eight percent were boys. The 2 treatment groups were well matched. During the 48-hour observation period, 3 (7%) of 46 patients given phenytoin and 3 (5%) of 56 patients given placebo experienced a posttraumatic seizure. There were no significant differences between the treatment groups in survival or neurologic outcome after 30 days. According to these results, the probability that phenytoin has the originally hypothesized effect of reducing the rate of early posttraumatic seizures by 12.5% is 0.0053. The probability that phenytoin has any prophylactic efficacy is 0.383. The median effect size in this trial was -0.015 (seizure rate increased by 1.5% in the phenytoin group), 95% probability interval -0.127 to 0.091 (12.7% higher rate of posttraumatic seizures to a 9.1% lower rate of posttraumatic seizures with phenytoin). CONCLUSION: The rate of early posttraumatic seizures in children may be much lower than previously reported. Phenytoin did not substantially reduce that rate.

Extremity pain and refusal to walk in children with invasive meningococcal disease.

OBJECTIVE: Early recognition of invasive meningococcal disease in children may be difficult. Extremity pain and refusal to walk (extremity symptoms) are uncommonly mentioned as clinical findings in children who present with this disease. We sought to determine 1) the frequency of extremity symptoms as part of the clinical presentation in children with invasive meningococcal disease and 2) whether these symptoms help identify children with otherwise unsuspected meningococcal disease. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of patients who were younger than 20 years and had invasive meningococcal disease from 1985 to 1996 at 3 pediatric referral centers. Children with extremity symptoms were identified and described. We compared clinical and laboratory findings and frequency of adverse outcomes between these children and those with invasive meningococcal disease without extremity symptoms. RESULTS: We identified 274 children with invasive meningococcal disease, 45 (16%) of whom had either history or physical examination evidence of extremity pain (31) or refusal to walk (14) as part of their clinical presentations. Five of the 45 patients had arthritis at the time of presentation. Patients with extremity symptoms at presentation were significantly older (77.9 +/- 62.2 vs 44.0 +/- 56.9 months), had lower temperatures (38.8 +/- 1.2 degrees C vs 39.2 +/- 1.2 degrees C), and had higher band counts (28.2 +/- 15.2% vs 18.1 +/- 12.4%) than did patients without extremity symptoms. There were no significant differences, however, between groups with regard to rash, white blood cell counts, coagulation parameters, prevalence of meningitis, or adverse outcomes. Seventy-three (27%) of the 274 patients had unsuspected disease, and 5 (7%) of these had extremity symptoms at the time of diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Sixteen percent of children with invasive meningococcal disease have extremity symptoms at the time of diagnosis. These symptoms may help to identify some patients with otherwise unsuspected invasive meningococcal disease.