First Time Seizure in the Setting of a Congenital Heart Abnormality and MCA Mycotic Aneurysms.

A 37 year-old man presented to the Emergency Department (ED) with new onset seizure and fall from standing.[...].

Patient Safety Perceptions in Pediatric Out-of-Hospital Emergency Care: Children's Safety Initiative.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize emergency medical service (EMS) providers' perceptions of the factors that contribute to safety events and errors in the out-of-hospital emergency care of children. STUDY DESIGN: We used a Delphi process to achieve consensus in a national sample of 753 emergency medicine physicians and EMS professionals. Convergence and stability were achieved in 3 rounds, and findings were reviewed and interpreted by a national expert panel. RESULTS: Forty-four (88%) states were represented, and 66% of participants were retained through all 3 rounds. From an initial set of 150 potential contributing factors derived from focus groups and literature, participants achieved consensus on the following leading contributors: airway management, heightened anxiety caring for children, lack of pediatric skill proficiency, lack of experience with pediatric equipment, and family members leading to delays or interference with care. Somewhat unexpectedly, medications and communication were low-ranking concerns. After thematic analysis, the overarching domains were ranked by their relative importance: (1) clinical assessment; (2) training; (3) clinical decision-making; (4) equipment; (5) medications; (6) scene characteristics; and (7) EMS cultural norms. CONCLUSIONS: These findings raise considerations for quality improvement and suggest important roles for pediatricians and pediatric emergency physicians in training, medical oversight, and policy development.

Environmental Hyperthermia in Prehospital Patients with Major Traumatic Brain Injury.

BACKGROUND: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) results in an estimated 1.7 million emergency department visits each year in the United States. These injuries frequently occur outside, leaving injured individuals exposed to environmental temperature extremes before they are transported to a hospital. OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the existing literature for evidence that exposure to high temperatures immediately after TBI could result in elevated body temperatures (EBTs), and whether or not EBTs affect patient outcomes. DISCUSSION: It has been clear since the early 1980s that after brain injury, exposure to environmental temperatures can cause hypothermia, and that this represents a significant contributor to increased morbidity and mortality. Less is known about elevated body temperature. Early evidence from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars indicated that exposure to elevated environmental temperatures in the prehospital setting may result in significant EBTs, however, it is unclear what impact these EBTs might have on outcomes in TBI patients. In the hospital, EBT, or neurogenic fever, is thought to be due to the acute-phase reaction that follows critical injury, and these high body temperatures are associated with poor outcomes after TBI. CONCLUSION: Hospital data suggest that EBTs are associated with poor outcomes, and some preliminary reports suggest that early EBTs are common after TBI in the prehospital setting. However, it remains unclear whether patients with TBI have an increased risk of EBTs after exposure to high environmental temperatures, or if this very early "hyperthermia" might cause secondary injury after TBI.

Understanding safety in prehospital emergency medical services for children.

OBJECTIVE: For over a decade, the field of medicine has recognized the importance of studying and designing strategies to prevent safety issues in hospitals and clinics. However, there has been less focus on understanding safety in prehospital emergency medical services (EMS), particularly in regard to children. Roughly 27.7 million (or 27%) of the annual emergency department visits are by children under the age of 19, and about 2 million of these children reach the hospital via EMS. This paper adds to our qualitative understanding of the nature and contributors to safety events in the prehospital emergency care of children. METHODS: We conducted four 8- to 12-person focus groups among paid and volunteer EMS providers to understand 1) patient safety issues that occur in the prehospital care of children, and 2) factors that contribute to these safety issues (e.g., patient, family, systems, environmental, or individual provider factors). Focus groups were conducted in rural and urban settings. Interview transcripts were coded for overarching themes. RESULTS: Key factors and themes identified in the analysis were grouped into categories using an ecological approach that distinguishes between systems, team, child and family, and individual provider level contributors. At the systems level, focus group participants cited challenges such as lack of appropriately sized equipment or standardized pediatric medication dosages, insufficient human resources, limited pediatric training and experience, and aspects of emergency medical services culture. EMS team level factors centered on communication with other EMS providers (both prehospital and hospital). Family and child factors included communication barriers and challenging clinical situations or scene characteristics. Finally, focus group participants highlighted a range of provider level factors, including heightened levels of anxiety, insufficient experience and training with children, and errors in assessment and decision making. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of our study suggest that, just as in hospital medicine, factors at the systems, team, child/family, and individual provider level system contribute to errors in prehospital emergency care. These factors may be modifiable through interventions and systems improvements. Future studies are needed to ascertain the generalizability of these findings and further refine the underlying mechanisms.

A case of acute traumatic subdural hematoma in a child with previous bilateral encephaloduroarteriosynangiosis.

The authors report the case of a 5-year-old female with right-sided hemiparesis and aphasia secondary to moyamoya disease, who had previously undergone staged bilateral encephaloduroarteriosynangiosis procedures. A subsequent ground-level fall caused an acute traumatic subdural hematoma with mass effect and neurological decline. She underwent emergency hematoma evacuation and decompressive craniectomy, which required interruption of the superficial temporal artery that had been used for indirect bypass, followed later by autologous cranioplasty. There were no acute or long-term ischemic events related to the occurrence or treatment of the traumatic hematoma. Follow-up angiography revealed extensive spontaneous vascular collateralization in the field of the decompressive craniectomy and cranioplasty. The patient returned to her pre-injury neurological baseline.

Pediatric educational needs assessment for urban and rural emergency medical technicians.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to identify past experiences, present needs, barriers, and desired methods of training for urban and rural emergency medical technicians. METHODS: This 62-question pilot-tested written survey was administered at the 2008 Oregon EMS and 2009 EMS for Children conferences. Respondents were compared with registration lists and the state emergency medical services (EMS) database to assess for nonresponder bias. Agencies more than 10 miles from a population of 40,000 were defined as rural. RESULTS: Two hundred nineteen (70%) of 313 EMS personnel returned the surveys. Respondents were 3% first responders, 27% emergency medical technician basics, 20% intermediates, and 47% paramedics. Sixty-eight percent were rural, and 32% were urban. Sixty-eight percent reported fewer than 10% pediatric transports. Overall, respondents rated their comfort caring for pediatric patients as 3.1 on a 5-point Likert scale (95% confidence interval, 3.1-3.2). Seventy-two percent reported a mean rating of less than "comfortable" (4 on the scale) across 17 topics in pediatric care, which did not differ by certification level. Seven percent reported no pediatric training in the last 2 years, and 76% desired more. The "quality of available trainings" was ranked as the most important barrier to training; 26% of rural versus 7% of urban EMS personnel ranked distance as the most significant barrier (P < 0.01). Fifty-one percent identified highly realistic simulations as the method that helped them learn best. In the past 2 years, 19% had trained on a highly realistic pediatric simulator. One to 3 hours was the preferred duration for trainings. CONCLUSIONS: Except for distance as a barrier, there were no significant differences between urban and rural responses. Both urban and rural providers desire resources, in particular, highly realistic simulation, to address the infrequency of pediatric transports and limited training.