Ideal chest compression site for cardiopulmonary resuscitation in fontan circulation patients with dextrocardia.

BACKGROUND: We aimed to identify the ideal chest compression site for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in patients with a single ventricle with dextrocardia corrected by Fontan surgery. METHODS: The most recent stored chest computed tomography images of all patients with a single ventricle who underwent Fontan surgery were retrospectively analysed. We reported that the ideal chest compression site is the largest part of the compressed single ventricle. To identify the ideal chest compression site, we measured the distance from the midline of the sternum to the point of the maximum sagittal area of the single ventricle as a deviation and calculated the area fraction of the compressed structures. RESULTS: 58 patients (67.2% male) were analysed. The mean right deviation from the midline of the sternum to the ideal compression site was similar to the mean sternum width (32.85 ± 15.61 vs. 31.05 ± 6.75 mm). When chest compression was performed at the ideal site, the area fraction of the single ventricle significantly increased by 7%, which was greater than that of conventional compression (0.15 ± 0.10 vs. 0.22 ± 0.11, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: When performing CPR on a patient with Fontan circulation with dextrocardia, right-sided chest compression may be better than the conventional location.

The Barriers to Recognizing and Reporting Child Physical Abuse by Emergency Physicians and Associated Factors.

BACKGROUND: Although the reporting rate of child abuse is increasing every year, the child abuse detection rate is 3.81% as of 2019 in Korea, which is significantly lower than that of developed countries for child rights. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the associated factors with barriers that emergency physicians face in recognizing and reporting cases of child abuse. METHODS: From May to July 2022, 240 emergency physicians working in the 15 emergency department were asked to participate in the survey via email. The questionnaire included the respondent's basic information, treatment experience for child abuse, reasons for reporting or not reporting, and opinions on measures to increase the reporting rate. We conducted a logistic regression analysis to discern the factors contributing to underreporting. RESULTS: Seventy-one individuals were included in the analysis, after excluding those who had never encountered suspected cases of child abuse. A multivariable logistic regression was performed with the above variables, and although it was not statistically significant, there was a tendency for workers to report well when working at a pediatric emergency department (odds ratio [95% confidence interval], 3.97 [0.98-16.09]). The primary reason for reporting suspected abuse was the pattern of damage suspected of abuse. The first reason for not reporting suspected abuse was because they were not sure it was child abuse. Respondents answered that to report better, a quick and appropriate response from the police and confidentiality of the reporter were needed. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians in pediatric emergency departments demonstrated a tendency for more proactive reporting suspected cases of child abuse.

Predictors of Caregiver Satisfaction With Pediatric Laceration Repair in the Pediatric Emergency Department.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to define the care factors that are important to caregivers' satisfaction with pediatric laceration repair and the overall emergency department (ED) experience. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional observation study performed in an urban tertiary hospital. The caregivers of patients younger than 18 years who presented to the ED for laceration repair completed a survey. Demographic data were analyzed. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to determine the factors related to satisfaction with the laceration repair and the overall ED experience. RESULTS: Fifty-five caregivers were enrolled. Most of the children had facial lacerations (n = 44, 80%). The median length of ED stay was 181 minutes (interquartile range [IQR], 157-208 minutes). The children's median age was 41.8 months (IQR, 23-91 months); the caregivers' median age was 37 years (IQR, 35-41 years). Most lacerations were repaired by plastic surgeons (81.8%). In the multivariate regression analysis, preparation before the procedure, mid-income family, caring attitude of the nurse, cosmetic outcome, and measures to control the patient's anxiety were significantly related to the caregiver's satisfaction with laceration repair (P < 0.05), whereas preparation before the procedure and ED environment were significantly related to the caregiver's satisfaction with the overall ED experience (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Preparation before the procedure was significantly related to the caregiver's satisfaction with both pediatric laceration repair and the overall PED experience. The strongest predictors were cosmetic outcome for laceration repair and preparation for the procedure for the overall PED experience. Our findings suggest that improvements in various aspects will increase parent satisfaction.

External validation and update of the early detection rule for severe hyperkalemia among patients with symptomatic bradycardia.

OBJECTIVE: Chon et al. suggested a high prevalence of severe hyperkalemia (serum potassium ≥ 6.0 mEq/L with electrocardiographic [ECG] changes) among patients with symptomatic or extreme bradycardia. Despite the urgent need to detect and treat severe hyperkalemia, serum potassium result may be available too late and is often spuriously high. Meanwhile, the traditional, descriptive ECG findings of severe hyperkalemia have shown unsatisfactory diagnostic powers. To overcome these diagnostic problems, they outlined the following quantitative rules to facilitate its early detection: Maximum precordial T wave ≥ 8.5 mV (2), atrial fibrillation/junctional bradycardia (1), heart rate (HR) ≤ 42/min (1) with (original rule)/without (ECG-only rule) diltiazem medication (2), and diabetes mellitus (1). Here we report on our external validation of these rules and the resulting updates. METHODS: This retrospective, cross-sectional study included all adults with symptomatic (HR ≤ 50/min with syncope/pre-syncope/dizziness, altered mentality, chest pain, dyspnea, general weakness, oliguria, or shock) or extreme (HR ≤ 40/min) bradycardia who visited a university emergency department from 2014 to 2019. After validating the abovementioned rules externally, we selected risk factors of severe hyperkalemia among the ECG findings and easy-to-assess clinical variables by multiple logistic regression analysis. After modelling the updated 'ECG-only' and 'ECG-plus' indices, we internally validated the better of the two by bootstrapping with 1000 iterations. RESULTS: Among 455 symptomatic/extreme bradycardia cases (70.3 ± 13.1 years; 213 females [46.8%]), 70 (15.4%) had severe hyperkalemia. The previous ECG-only rule showed a c-statistic of 0.765 (95% CI: 0.706-0.825), Hosmer-Lemeshow test of p < 0.001, and a calibration slope of 0.719 (95% CI: 0.401-1.04). On updating, the ECG-plus index summing junctional bradycardia/atrial fibrillation (1), maximum precordial T wave≥8.0 mV (2), general weakness as the chief complaint (2), oxygen demand (1), and dialysis (2) outperformed the ECG-only index (c-statistic, 0.832; 95% CI, 0.785-0.880 vs. 0.764; 95% CI, 0.700-0.828; p = 0.011). On bootstrapping, the c-statistic was 0.832 (95% CI: 0.786-0.878). For scores ≥ 3 (positive likelihood ratio ≥ 5.0), the sensitivity and specificity were 0.514 and 0.901, respectively. For scores ≤ 1, negative likelihood ratio was ≤0.2. CONCLUSIONS: Previous rules showed less satisfactory calibration but fair discrimination to detect severe hyperkalemia in patients with symptomatic or extreme bradycardia. We propose the ECG-plus index as the optimum tool to facilitate its early detection.

Tablet personal computer distraction during intravenous placement for young children in the pediatric emergency department: A pilot study.

BACKGROUND: Intravenous (IV) placement is a common procedure experienced by children visiting the pediatric emergency department (PED). However, uncontrolled anxiety and pain cause children to interfere with the procedure. In this pilot study, we sought to evaluate the effectiveness of tablet personal computers as a distraction method during IV placement. METHODS: This is a single-center pilot study conducted at a tertiary teaching hospital. Children visiting the PED were eligible if they were aged 3-5 years and required IV placement during the PED visit. After written consent was obtained from the guardian, the child was randomly assigned to a control group or an intervention group. For the intervention group, an animated video was played via tablet PC during IV placement. For both groups, children's anxiety, heart rate, and pain scale scores (the Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability and Evaluation Enfant Douleur) and guardian satisfaction were recorded. RESULTS: 22 children were eligible for the final analysis. There was no significant difference in the pain scale scores between the two groups, with the exception of the degree of pain relief after the procedure measured using Evaluation Enfant Douleur (intervention group: 6.0, interquartile range (IQR): 4.2-6.8, and control group; 3.0, IQR: 2.0-3.8, P = 0.011) and Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability (intervention group: 4.0, IQR: 4.0-4.2 and control group; 3.0, IQR: 1.5-3.5, P = 0.043). CONCLUSION: In this pilot study, distraction using tablet personal computers may have reduced children's distress during the recovery phase after venipuncture. Further study with a larger sample size and different methods of distraction is essential.

Effects of Emergency Care-related Health Policies during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Korea: a Quasi-Experimental Study.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to review the nationwide emergency care-related health policies during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic disaster in Korea and to analyze the effects of the policies on the safety of patients who visit emergency departments (EDs) during this period. METHODS: This study is a quasi-experiment study. The study population was patients who visited all 402 EDs in Korea between December 31, 2019 and May 13, 2020, using the National Emergency Department Information System (NEDIS) database. The study period was classified into 5 phases according to the level of national crisis warning of infectious disease and the implementation of emergency care-related health policies, and all study phases were 27 days. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality, and the secondary outcome was length of stay (LOS) in the ED during the COVID-19 outbreak. RESULTS: The number of ED visits during the study period was 2,636,341, and the in-hospital mortality rate was 1.4%. The number of ED visits decreased from 803,160 in phase 1 to 496,619 in phase 5 during the study period. For in-hospital mortality, the adjusted odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval) was 0.77 (0.74-0.79) in phase 5 compared to phase 3. Additionally, by subgroup, the ORs were 0.69 (0.57-0.83) for the patients with acute myocardial infarction and 0.76 (0.67-0.87) for severe trauma in phase 5 compared to phase 3. The ED LOS increased while the number of ED visits decreased as the COVID-19 pandemic progressed, and the ED LOS declined after policy implementation (beta coefficient: -5.3 [-6.5 to -4.2] minutes in phase 5 compared to phase 3). CONCLUSION: Implementing appropriate emergency care policies in the COVID-19 pandemic would have contributed to improving the safety of all emergency patients and reducing in-hospital mortality by preventing excessive deaths.

Impact of the COVID-19 Outbreak on Trends in Emergency Department Utilization in Children: a Multicenter Retrospective Observational Study in Seoul Metropolitan Area, Korea.

BACKGROUND: Understanding the changes in emergency department (ED) visit patterns during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak is important for effectively operating EDs during the pandemic. We aimed to analyze the changes in pediatric ED visits during the COVID-19 pandemic and examine the relationship between the number of ED visits and the stringency of government social distancing measures. METHODS: This multicenter retrospective study used data of pediatric (age < 18 years) ED visits in Seoul metropolitan area from June 1, 2018, to May 31, 2020. Patient demographics, ED results, and diagnoses were compared during the COVID-19 period and the previous year. To evaluate the effect of the stringency of social distancing measures on the number of ED visits, a Poisson regression model was developed with month, year, and the average monthly Government Response Stringency Index (GRSI) as fixed effects. RESULTS: In total, 190,732 patients were included. The number of pediatric ED visits during the COVID-19 period was 58.1% lower than in the previous year. There were disproportionate decreases in the numbers of ED visits for children in early childhood (66.5%), low-acuity children (55.2-63.8%), those who did not use an ambulance (59.0%), and those visiting the ED for noninjury complaints (64.9%). The proportion of admissions increased from 11.9% to 16.6%. For every 10-point increase in the GRSI, there was a 15.1% decrease in monthly ED visits. CONCLUSION: A striking decrease in pediatric ED visits was observed during the COVID-19 outbreak, the scale which was associated with the stringency of government policies. Changes in the number and characteristics of children visiting the ED should be considered to facilitate the effective operation of EDs during the pandemic.

"Weighing Cam": A New Mobile Application for Weight Estimation in Pediatric Resuscitation.

Objective: We evaluated the validity of a newly developed mobile application (i.e. the Weighing Cam) for pediatric weight estimation compared with that of the Broselow tape. Methods: We developed an application that estimates the weight of pediatric patients using a smartphone camera and displays the drug dosage, device size, and defibrillation energy on the screen of the smartphone. We enrolled a convenience sample of pediatric patients aged <16 years who presented at two pediatric emergency departments of two tertiary academic hospitals in South Korea. The pediatric patients' heights and weights were measured; then, one researcher estimated the weights using the application. Using the measured height, we determined the weight estimated by the Broselow tape. We compared the estimated measurements by determining the mean percentage error (MPE), mean absolute percentage error, root mean square percentage error, and percentages predicted within 10% and 20% of the actual. Results: In total, 480 patients were enrolled in 16 age categories, each with 15 males and 15 females of different ages. The Weighing Cam demonstrated a lower bias (mean difference: -1.98% [95% confidence interval -2.91% to -1.05%] for MPE) and a higher proportion of estimated weights within 10% of the actual weights than the Broselow tape (mean difference: 9.1% [95% confidence interval 3.0% to 15.1%]). The Weighing Cam showed better performance in terms of accuracy and precision than the Broselow tape in all subgroups stratified by age or body mass index percentile. Conclusions: The Weighing Cam may estimate pediatric patients' weights more accurately than the Broselow tape. The Weighing Cam may be useful for pediatric resuscitation in both prehospital and hospital settings.

Pediatric Injuries in Kids Cafés and Risk Factors for Significant Injuries: a 6-Year Cross-Sectional Study Using a Multicenter Injury Registry in Korea.

BACKGROUND: A kids café is a popular indoor playground in Korea that combines a playground for young children and a café for their caregivers. There have been no national reports about kids café-related injuries in Korea. This study investigated kids café-related injuries in Korea registered in a multicenter injury surveillance database and analyzed the risk factors for significant kids café-related injuries. METHODS: A multicenter cross-sectional study was performed using the Emergency Department-based Injury In-depth Surveillance registry in Korea between 2011 and 2016. Significant injury was defined as an injury requiring hospitalization or surgery. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to obtain the adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for factors associated with significant kids café-related injuries. RESULTS: Among 1,537,617 injured patients, we extracted 891 patients who were injured in kids cafés. Of these, 46 (5.2%) were admitted, and 39 (4.4%) underwent surgery. The most common injured anatomical site, injury type, and mechanism were lower extremity (28.2%), superficial injury (27.2%), and slip (27.1%), respectively. Among injury-inducing factors, significant injuries were most commonly caused by a trampoline (28.1%), and rock climbing equipment was the only risk factor in a kids café that led to significant injury after adjusting for age, sex, injury mechanism, and injured anatomical sites (aOR, 14.94; 95% confidence interval, 1.51-147.72). CONCLUSION: The rock climbing equipment in a kids café can cause serious injury to children. Establishing safety regulations for rock climbing equipment in kids cafés may have the greatest impact in reducing significant injuries requiring hospitalization or surgery.

Clinical Decision Rule to Identify Orbital Wall Fracture Among Children: Retrospective Derivation and Validation Study.

OBJECTIVES: Head and face injuries are leading causes of emergency department visits in children. There is yet no clinical decision rule on face CT such as pediatric head CT rules. The goal was to develop and validate a clinical decision rule for identifying orbital wall fractures in children with periorbital trauma in the emergency department. METHODS: This was a retrospective derivation and validation study. Children younger than 18 years who underwent orbit CT after periorbital trauma were included between January 2011 and December 2013 in 3 emergency centers. Among 16 candidate clinical variables, 13 clinical signs and symptoms were selected as clinical predictors. For the fracture model, these clinical predictors were analyzed by 3-fold cross-validation. Diagnostic performance was assessed using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve in both cohorts. RESULTS: Four variables (orbital rim tenderness, periorbital ecchymosis, painful extraocular movement, and nausea/vomiting) had the best predictive model with the highest AUROC value. The AUROC values for fracture prediction were 0.793 (95% confidence interval, 0.741-0.844) and 0.809 (95% confidence interval, 0.742-0.877) in the derivation cohort and validation cohort, respectively. The sensitivity and negative predictive values were 96.4% and 93.4%, respectively, in the derivation cohort, and 97.8% and 98.1%, respectively, in the validation cohort. The sum of these scores ranged from 0 to 4. Patients with a sum of scores of 1 or higher showed significantly increased risk for fracture. CONCLUSIONS: The 4-variable predictive model can be useful for finding clinically important orbital wall fractures in children.

Two-Thumb Encircling Technique With a Novel Compression Assist Device Provides Safe and Effective Chest Compressions in Infants.

OBJECTIVE: Currently, 2-thumb encircling technique is recommended in 2-rescuer infant cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). However, many complications can occur during CPR. Therefore, we developed a novel compression assist device (Reheart) that can reduce chest compression area and determined whether using our device provides better compression quality. METHODS: A novel compression assist device consists of 2 parts. The upper part was designed to put 2 thumbs together in the thumb sleeves, and the lower part was designed based on a circular rubber plate with a 2.0-cm diameter to confine compression area. Infant manikin CPR simulations using the 2-thumb encircling technique with Reheart and without Reheart were sequentially performed by participants in randomized crossover fashion. RESULTS: A total of 32 health care providers were included. The average age of the participants was 30.2 ± 3.5 years, and 21 participants (65.6%) were male. The accuracy in the Reheart group was better than that in the conventional group (proportion of compression on target area, 52.5% ± 13.2% vs 35.4% ± 17.6%; P < 0.001). The difference in the rates of chest compressions between the 2 groups was not significant (119.6 ± 14.4 vs 120.7 ± 14.0 compressions/min, P = 0.59). The depth of chest compressions was also not significantly different between the 2 groups (34.5 mm [33.6-34.9 mm] vs 34.2 mm [33.0-34.9 mm], P = 0.32). CONCLUSIONS: Our new compression assist device can help provide safe and effective chest compressions during 2-rescuer infant CPR.

A Novel Infant Chest Compression Assist Device Using a Palm Rather Than Fingers: A Randomized Crossover Trial.

Objective: We developed a novel compression assist device (palm presser) to perform chest compressions using a palm in infant cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). We hypothesized that the palm presser will increase compression depth without increasing hands-off time and will reduce rescuer fatigue compared with the two-finger technique (TFT).Methods: In this randomized crossover manikin trial, participants performed two minutes of CPR with a 30:2 compression:ventilation ratio using the palm presser and the TFT in randomized sequence on an infant manikin. CPR parameters, including compression depth and hands-off time, were collected to compare CPR quality between the palm presser and the TFT. The linear mixed-effect model was used to control the carryover effect of a crossover design in the analysis of CPR parameters. To evaluate rescuer fatigue, we compared changes in compression depth over time and calculated the odds of sufficiently deep compressions over time between the two groups.Results: The palm presser resulted in greater mean compression depth (41.5 ± 1.6 mm vs. 36.8 ± 5.5 mm, p < 0.001), greater sufficiently deep compressions (80.9 ± 27.8% vs. 42.4 ± 35.4%, p < 0.001), and better correct hand position (99.9 ± 0.5% vs. 83.9 ± 25.3%, p = 0.013) than the TFT. Total compressions, compression rate, total ventilations, volume of ventilations, and hands-off time were not significantly different between the two groups. The mean change in compression depth over time was greater with the TFT than with the palm presser (regression coefficient: -0.024 [95% CI -0.030 to -0.018] vs. -0.004 [95% CI -0.006 to -0.002]). The odds of a compression depth greater than 40 mm increased 2.8 times (95% CI 2.2 to 3.4) with the TFT during the first minute compared with the last minute, whereas the corresponding odds ratio when using the palm presser was not significantly different in the first and last minutes (OR: 1.2 [95% CI 0.9 to 1.5]).Conclusions: Compression with palm pressers resulted in greater compression depth without increasing hands-off time and reduced rescuer fatigue compared with compression with the TFT in simulated infant CPR with manikins.

Interexaminer reliability of pharyngeal injection and palatine tonsillar hypertrophy in a pediatric emergency department.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the interrater reliability of throat examinations in children according to the major and training stage. STUDY DESIGN: We performed a prospective observational study of interrater reliability. The participants included physicians with various amounts of experience and majors who were working in an urban, tertiary hospital. We collected 20 photos of the throats of children who presented to the pediatric emergency department (ED) and performed 2 surveys (with or without medical history). The primary outcome was the interrater agreement for pharyngeal injection (PI) and palatine tonsillar hypertrophy (PTH), and the secondary outcome was the interrater agreement for PI and PTH in subgroups of examiners divided by major and duration of clinical experience. RESULTS: Thirty-three examiners participated in this study. The overall percent agreement for PI was 0.669, and Fleiss' kappa was 0.296. The interrater reliability was similar before and after providing patients' medical history. The overall percent agreement for PTH was 0.408, and Kendall's W was 0.674. When the patients' medical history was provided, Kendall's W increased (0.692). In the subgroup analysis, Fleiss' kappa for PI ranged from 0.257 to 0.33, and Kendall's W for PTH ranged from 0.593 to 0.711. CONCLUSION: Examiners' agreement for PTH was more reliable than that for PI when evaluating children who visited the ED. The interrater reliability did not improve with increased clinical experience. These findings should be considered in the examination of pharyngeal pathology.

N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide and prediction of coronary artery dilatation in hyperacute phase of Kawasaki disease.

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery dilatation (CAD) is a great concern with Kawasaki disease (KD). This study aimed to investigate the relationship between serum N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels and CAD in patients with the hyperacute phase (≤4 days of fever) of KD. METHODS: Serum NT-proBNP levels were compared between patients with and those without CAD, who underwent transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) within 24 h of the hyperacute phase of KD in the pediatric emergency department (PED). Electronic medical records of patients aged 1 month to 15 years who visited the PED were retrospectively assessed from January 2010 to December 31, 2014. RESULTS: One hundred nine patients were enrolled in the study. Twenty-three of those patients had CAD within 24 h of TTE. Median serum NT-proBNP levels were significantly higher in patients with CAD (824.1 pg/ml; interquartile range [IQR], 515.4-1570.0184.8-767.8 pg/ml) than in patients without CAD (396.4 pg/ml; IQR, 184.8-767.8 pg/ml) (p ≤ 0.001). The cutoff value of serum NT-proBNP, which predicted CAD during the hyperacute phase of KD, was 515.4 pg/ml, which yielded sensitivity of 78.26% and specificity of 61.63%. The area under the curve for NT-proBNP for predicting CAD during hyperacute KD was 0.749 (95% CI, 0.642-0.856). CONCLUSION: Serum NT-proBNP might be an additional laboratory marker for detecting early CAD during the hyperacute phase of KD in the PED.

Efficacy of low-dose nebulized epinephrine as treatment for croup: A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial.

OBJECTIVE: Croup treatment usually involves a single dose of systemic dexamethasone combined with nebulized epinephrine. However, the optimal dose of l-epinephrine remains unclear. We examined whether a low dose (0.1 mg/kg) was inferior to the conventional dose (0.5 mg/kg) of 1:1000 nebulized l-epinephrine in patients with moderate to severe croup. METHODS: This randomized double-blind clinical non-inferiority trial was conducted in three pediatric emergency departments from May 2015 to October 2017. Children 6 months to 5 years old with moderate to severe croup (Westley scale scores 3-11) were eligible. Subjects were randomly assigned to the conventional dose (0.5 mg/kg: maximum 5 mg) or low dose (0.1 mg/kg; maximum 1 mg) group. All subjects received 0.6 mg/kg dexamethasone. Croup scores and other vital signs were measured before and at 30, 60, 90, and 120 min after nebulized l-epinephrine administration. The primary outcome was the change in croup score after 30 min. RESULTS: The final analysis included 84 patients. The groups did not differ significantly in terms of demographic parameters. At 30 min after treatment with nebulized l-epinephrine, the croup scores in both groups were significantly reduced from the baseline values (p < 0.05) and did not differ between the two groups (p = 0.42). Neither blood pressure nor heart rate differed between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Low-dose 1:1000 l-epinephrine was not inferior in croup score reduction to the conventional dose in patients with moderate to severe croup. Clinical trial No: NCT01664507, KCT0002318.

A Practice Guideline for Postreduction Management of Intussusception of Children in the Emergency Department.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a practice guideline of postreduction management of intussusception in children on the length of stay (LOS) from reduction in the pediatric emergency department (PED) and on the incidence of recurrence. METHODS: We developed a practice guideline of postreduction management of intussusception in the PED. The practice guideline involved feeding 2 hours after reduction and discharge 2 hours after successful feeding. The guideline was implemented on October 1, 2012. Retrospective quasi-experimental study was conducted for evaluation of the difference in LOS in the PED after reduction of intussusceptions, and the recurrence rate of intussusceptions between the preimplementation and postimplementation periods. Piecewise regression was performed to determine the differences between groups. RESULTS: In total, 45 and 52 patients were included in the preimplementation and postimplementation periods, respectively. The median LOS in the postimplementation period was significantly shorter than that in the preimplementation period (289 vs 532 minutes, respectively; P = 0.001). The slope of the LOS changed from 0.68 to -0.29. The slope decreased by 0.97 after practice guideline implementation. This difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.123), but it changed from a positive to negative gradient. The recurrence rate was not significantly different between the 2 periods (P = 0.605). CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of a practice guideline involving early feeding and discharge after reduction of intussusception resulted in a reduced LOS from reduction of intussusception in the PED and was not associated with recurrence of intussusception.

Educational Effectiveness of an Easily Made New Simulator Model for Ultrasound-Guided Vascular Access and Foreign Body Management Procedures on Pediatric Patients.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to introduce an easily made chicken breast simulator for ultrasound (US)-guided vascular access, foreign body (FB) detection, and hydrodissection in pediatric patients and to validate the effectiveness for training using this phantom tissue model. METHODS: The authors made the tissue phantom simulator using a chicken breast and rubber tourniquet for vascular access and fragments of a tongue blade and steel clip for FB detection and hydrodissection using a very simple method. We provided training on US-guided vascular access (following the tip [FTT] method), FB detection, and hydrodissection using this model for novice physicians to learn US-guided procedures for pediatric patients. In addition, we provided a questionnaire to solicit their thoughts on their knowledge and confidence to perform these procedures before and after training and to learn their thoughts on the similarity to actual patients and usefulness of this model on a 10-point Likert scale. RESULTS: A total of 16 emergency residents participated in this study. We obtained US images during vascular access (FTT) and FB detection/ hydrodissection procedures using this phantom tissue model. Residents' knowledge of and confidence to perform US-guided FTT method and FB detection/hydrodissection procedures after training increased to a statistically significant degree (P < 0.001 in all items). The median Likert scores regarding the similarity to actual patients and usefulness of this model were 8.5 (interquartile range, 7.5-9) and 10 (interquartile range, 8-10), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The model for US-guided procedures used in this study can be constructed by simple and easy methods, presents realistic procedural images, and was useful for training novice physicians to conduct US-guided procedures on pediatric patients.

New decision formulas for predicting endotracheal tube depth in children: analysis of neck CT images.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to construct a prediction model for endotracheal tube depth using neck CT images. METHODS: A retrospective image review was conducted that included patients who had undergone neck CT. Using sagittal neck CT images, we calculated the length between upper incisor and mid-trachea and then derived the model via regression analysis. The model was validated externally using chest radiographs of patients who had undergone endotracheal intubation. We compared performance of our model with that of other methods (Broselow tape and APLS formula) via Bland-Altman analysis and the percentage of estimations within 10% of the measured values. RESULTS: A total of 1111 children were included in this study. The tube depth obtained from CT images was linearly related to body weight (tube depth (cm)=5.5+0.5×body wt (kg)) in children younger than 1 year and to height (tube depth (cm)=3+0.1×height (cm)) in children older than 1 year. External validation demonstrated that our new model showed better agreement with the desired tube depth than Broselow tape and APLS formula. The mean differences in children younger than 1 year were 0.61 cm and -1.24 cm for our formula and Broselow tape, respectively. The mean differences in children older than 1 year were -0.43 cm, -1.98 and -1.64 cm for our formula, Broselow tape and APLS formula, respectively. The percentages of estimates within 10% of the measured values were 52.7% and 35.8% for our formula and Broselow tape in children younger than 1 year, respectively, and 54.3%, 33.8% and 37.2% for our formula, Broselow tape and APLS formula in children older than 1 year, respectively (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Our new formula is useful and more accurate than the currently available methods.

Protective effect of hemopexin on systemic inflammation and acute lung injury in an endotoxemia model.

BACKGROUND: Hemopexin (HPX) has been identified as an anti-inflammatory agent, but its role in endotoxemia is unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine whether HPX suppresses systemic and lung inflammation in a mouse model of endotoxemia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: At 30 min of intraperitoneal administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 10 mg/kg), either distilled water (LPS-only treated animals) or HPX (5 mg/kg) was injected into mice via the tail vein, and the survival rates were analyzed after 36 h. Furthermore, the serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and HPX were determined at 0, 3, and 6 h, and the expression levels and DNA binding activities of phosphorylated cytoplasmic inhibitor κB-α, nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), and the p65 subunit of NF-κB were evaluated and compared with the rates of histologic lung injury after 6 h. RESULTS: Serum tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 levels were decreased in HPX-treated animals at 3 and 6 h (P < 0.05). HPX suppressed the NF-κB pathway (P < 0.05) and reduced acute lung injury at 6 h, and 36 h after initial treatment, the survival rate was higher in HPX-treated animals than that in LPS-treated animals (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: HPX downregulated proinflammatory cytokine production and acute lung injury as well as improved survival rates in a mouse model of endotoxemia. These effects were associated with HPX-mediated suppression of the NF-κB pathway.

Effectiveness of finger-marker for maintaining the correct compression point during paediatric resuscitation: A simulation study.

OBJECTIVE: High-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation is a significant factor for increasing the survival rate of paediatric patients. This study is to investigate the effectiveness of finger-marker stickers for maintaining the correct compression point during simulated infant cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). METHODS: This crossover simulation study was conducted with 40 emergency physicians and paramedics at emergency departments of 2 tertiary hospitals. We used a remodeled infant CPR manikin developed to measure CPR quality indicators. After random coupling of participants (20 pairs), the pre-group (10 pairs) performed conventional 2-rescuer infant manikin CPR, then performed sticker-applied CPR after 1month. The post-group (10 pairs) performed the process in the opposite order. The participants placed finger-marker stickers to indicate the appropriate compression point before starting CPR. We compared accurate finger placement rates and other CPR quality indicators (compression depth, rate, complete chest recoil, and hands-off time) with and without the finger-marker sticker. RESULTS: All finger-marker stickers were correctly attached within 5s (4.88±1.28s) of approaching the model. There were significant differences in the rate of correct finger compression position between conventional and sticker-applied CPR (25.4% [IQRs 7.6-69.8] vs. 88.2% [IQRs 69.6-95.5], P<0.001). Results did not differ according to sex, career, and job of the participants. There were no significant differences in mean compression rate, depth, hands-off times, and rate of fully recoiled compression between the 2 groups. CONCLUSION: Finger-marker stickers can be used to maintain correct finger positioning during 2-rescuer infant manikin CPR.