High-risk criteria for the physiologically difficult paediatric airway: A multicenter, observational study to generate validity evidence.

BACKGROUND: Single-center studies have identified risk factors for peri-intubation cardiac arrest in the emergency department (ED). The study objective was to generate validity evidence from a more diverse, multicenter cohort of patients. METHODS: We completed a retrospective cohort study of 1200 paediatric patients who underwent tracheal intubation in eight academic paediatric EDs (150 per ED). The exposure variables were 6 previously studied high-risk criteria for peri-intubation arrest: (1) persistent hypoxemia despite supplemental oxygen, (2) persistent hypotension, (3) concern for cardiac dysfunction, (4) post-return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), (5) severe metabolic acidosis (pH < 7.1), and (6) status asthmaticus. The primary outcome was peri-intubation cardiac arrest. Secondary outcomes included extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) cannulation and in-hospital mortality. We compared all outcomes between patients that met one or more versus no high-risk criteria, using generalized linear mixed models. RESULTS: Of the 1,200 paediatric patients, 332 (27.7%) met at least one of 6 high-risk criteria. Of these, 29 (8.7%) suffered peri-intubation arrest compared to zero arrests in patients meeting none of the criteria. On adjusted analysis, meeting at least one high-risk criterion was associated with all 3 outcomes - peri-intubation arrest (AOR 75.7, 95% CI 9.7-592.6), ECMO (AOR 7.1, 95% CI 2.3-22.3) and mortality (AOR 3.4, 95% 1.9-6.2). Four of 6 criteria were independently associated with peri-intubation arrest: persistent hypoxemia despite supplemental oxygen, persistent hypotension, concern for cardiac dysfunction, and post-ROSC. CONCLUSIONS: In a multicenter study, we confirmed that meeting at least one high-risk criterion was associated with paediatric peri-intubation cardiac arrest and patient mortality.

Implementation of a Pediatric Emergency Department Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Quality Bundle.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: We have previously demonstrated that standardized handoff from prehospital to hospital clinicians can improve cardiopulmonary resuscitation performance for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients in a pediatric emergency department (ED). We leveraged our previous quality improvement initiative to standardize performance of a bundle of 5 discrete aspects of resuscitation for OHCA patients: intravenous or intraosseous catheter (IV/IO) access, epinephrine administration, advanced airway placement, end-tidal capnography (ETCO2) application, and cardiac rhythm verbalization. We aimed to reduce time to completion of the bundle from 302 seconds at baseline to less than 120 seconds within 1 year. METHODS: A multidisciplinary team performed video-based review of actual OHCA resuscitations in our pediatric ED. We designed interventions aimed at key drivers of bundle performance. Interventions included specific roles and responsibilities and a standardized choreography for each bundle element. To assess the effect of the interventions, time to performance of each bundle element was measured by standardized review of video recordings from our resuscitation bay. Balancing measures were time off the chest and time to defibrillator pad placement. RESULTS: We analyzed 56 cases of OHCA from May 2019 through May 2021. Time to bundle completion improved from a baseline of 302 seconds to 147 seconds. Four of 5 individual bundle elements also demonstrated significant improvement. These improvements were sustained without any negative impact on balancing measures. CONCLUSIONS: Standardized choreography for the initial minutes of ED cardiac arrest resuscitation shows promise to decrease time to crucial interventions in children presenting to the pediatric ED with OHCA.

The Medical Resuscitation Committee: Interprofessional Program Development to Optimize Care for Critically Ill Medical Patients in an Academic Pediatric Emergency Department.

ABSTRACT: Provision of optimal care to critically ill patients in a pediatric emergency department is challenging. Specific challenges include the following: (a) patient presentations are highly variable, representing the full breadth of human disease and injury, and are often unannounced; (b) care team members have highly variable experience and skills and often few meaningful opportunities to practice care delivery as a team; (c) valid data collection, for quality assurance/improvement and clinical research, is limited when relying on traditional approaches such as medical record review or self-report; (d) specific patient presentations are relatively uncommon for individual providers, providing few opportunities to establish and refine the requisite knowledge and skill; and (e) unscientific or random variation in care delivery. In the current report, we describe our efforts for the last decade to address these challenges and optimize care delivery to critically ill patients in a pediatric emergency department. We specifically describe the grassroots development of an interprofessional medical resuscitation program. Key components of the program are as follows: (a) a database of all medical patients undergoing evaluation in the resuscitation suite, (b) peer review and education through video-based case review, (c) a program of emergency department in situ simulation, and (d) the development of cognitive aids for high-acuity, low-frequency medical emergencies.

Peri-Intubation Cardiac Arrest in the Pediatric Emergency Department: A Novel System of Care.

Patients with physiologic disorders, such as hypoxemia or hypotension, are at high risk of peri-intubation cardiac arrest. Standardization improves emergency tracheal intubation safety, but no published reports describe initiatives to reduce the risk of cardiac arrest. This initiative aims to improve the care of children at risk of peri-intubation cardiac arrest in a pediatric emergency department (PED). We specifically aimed to increase the number of patients between those with peri-intubation cardiac arrest by 50%, from a baseline of 11-16, over 12-months. METHODS: Our multidisciplinary team outlined a theory of improvement and designed interventions aimed at key drivers. The primary intervention was creating a PICU-ED Team (PET) and a checklist to guide the assessment and mitigation of risk for peri-intubation arrest and rapid consultation of the pediatric intensivists. The PET was iteratively refined, and we collected data by a video review of tracheal intubations. RESULTS: Fifty-one patients with risk factors for peri-intubation arrest underwent tracheal -intubation in the PED from January 2016 to March 2020: 14 with PET activation since PET go-live in April 2019. None of the 14 PET patients had a peri-intubation cardiac arrest. Ninety-three percent (13/14) of PET patients were intubated in the PED, and 78% (10/13) of these patients had the first intubation attempt completed by PED physicians (balancing measures). CONCLUSION: We successfully developed the PET to mitigate the risk of peri-intubation cardiac arrest without significantly reducing key procedural opportunities for the PED. Initial data are promising, but further refinement is needed.

Adolescents' Awareness of and Attitudes Toward Expedited Partner Therapy Provided in the Emergency Department.

BACKGROUND: Adolescents and young adults account for half of the 20 million new cases of sexually transmitted infections each year. Expedited partner therapy (EPT) has been shown to decrease reinfection rates and is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We aimed to (1) assess adolescents' awareness of EPT, (2) assess their likelihood of giving EPT received in the pediatric emergency department (PED) to their partner(s), and (3) identify factors associated with increased likelihood of giving EPT to their partner(s). METHODS: Adolescents and young adults aged 14 to 22 years seeking care in 2 PEDs participated in a survey. Main outcomes were EPT awareness and likelihood of giving EPT to his/her partner(s). Patients were dichotomized into likely and not likely to provide partner(s) with EPT based on answers to a 5-point Likert scale question. χ and t tests were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Three hundred ninety-three participants were included. Only 11% (n = 42) were aware of EPT; however, 80% (n = 316) reported to be likely to give EPT received in the PED to his/her partner(s). Study site, being sexually active, and engaging in high-risk sexual behaviors were associated with an increased likelihood of giving EPT to their partner(s) (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Many adolescents are not aware of EPT; however, most were theoretically likely to give EPT received in the PED to his/her partner(s). With increasing rates of sexually transmitted infections and high utilization of the PED for adolescent reproductive health services, efforts to incorporate the use of EPT in PED workflows would be beneficial.

Identification of the Physiologically Difficult Airway in the Pediatric Emergency Department.

BACKGROUND: The risk factors for peri-intubation cardiac arrest in critically ill children are incompletely understood. The study objective was to derive physiologic risk factors for deterioration during tracheal intubation in a pediatric emergency department (PED). METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study of patients undergoing emergency tracheal intubation in a PED. Using the published literature and expert opinion, a multidisciplinary team developed high-risk criteria for peri-intubation arrest: 1) hypotension, 2) concern for cardiac dysfunction, 3) persistent hypoxemia, 4) severe metabolic acidosis (pH < 7.1), 5) post-return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), and 6) status asthmaticus. We completed a structured review of the electronic health record for a historical cohort of patients intubated in the PED. The primary outcome was peri-intubation arrest. Secondary outcomes included tracheal intubation success rate, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) activation, and in-hospital mortality. We compared outcomes between patients meeting one or more versus no high-risk criteria. RESULTS: Peri-intubation cardiac arrest occurred in 5.6% of patients who met at least one high-risk criterion compared to 0% in patients meeting none (5.6% difference, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.0 to 18.1, p = 0.028). Patients meeting at least one criterion had higher rates of any postintubation cardiac arrest in the PED (11.1% vs. 0%, 11.1% difference, 95% CI = 4.1 to 25.3, p = 0.0007), in-hospital mortality (25% vs. 2.3%, 22.7% difference, 95% CI = 11.0 to 38.9, p < 0.0001), ECMO activation (8.3% vs. 0%, 8.3% difference, 95% CI = 2.5 to 21.8, p = 0.004), and lower likelihood of first-pass intubation success (47.2% vs. 66.1%, -18.9% difference, 95% CI = -35.5 to -1.5, p = 0.038), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We have developed criteria that successfully identify physiologically difficult airways in the PED. Children with hypotension, persistent hypoxemia, concern for cardiac dysfunction, severe metabolic acidosis, status asthmaticus or who are post-ROSC are at higher risk for peri-intubation cardiac arrest and in-hospital mortality. Further multicenter investigation is needed to validate our findings.

Enhancing CPR During Transition From Prehospital to Emergency Department: A QI Initiative.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: High-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) increases the likelihood of survival of pediatric out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Maintenance of high-quality CPR during transition of care between prehospital and pediatric emergency department (PED) providers is challenging. Our objective for this initiative was to minimize pauses in compressions, in alignment with American Heart Association recommendations, for patients with OHCA during the handoffs from prehospital to PED providers. We aimed to decrease interruptions in compressions during the first 2 minutes of PED care from 17 seconds (baseline data) to 10 seconds over 12 months. Our secondary aims were to decrease the length of the longest pause in compressions to <10 seconds and eliminate encounters in which time to defibrillator pad placement was >120 seconds. METHODS: Our multidisciplinary team outlined our theory for improvement and designed interventions aimed at key drivers. Interventions included specific roles and responsibilities, CPR handoff choreography, and empowerment of frontline providers. Data were abstracted from video recordings of patients with OHCA receiving manual CPR on arrival. RESULTS: We analyzed 33 encounters between March 2018 and July 2019. We decreased total interruptions from 17 to 12 seconds during the first 2 minutes and decreased the time of the longest single pause from 14 to 7 seconds. We saw a decrease in variability of time to defibrillator pad placement. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of a quality improvement initiative involving CPR transition choreography resulted in decreased interruptions in compressions and decreased variability of time to defibrillator pad placement.

A Research Agenda for Emergency Medicine-based Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health.

OBJECTIVE: The objective was to identify key questions for emergency medicine (EM)-based adolescent sexual and reproductive health and to develop an evidence-based research agenda. METHODS: We recruited national content experts to serve as advisory group members and used a modified Delphi technique to develop consensus around actionable research questions related to EM-based adolescent reproductive and sexual health care. Author subgroups conducted literature reviews and developed the initial list of research questions, which were iteratively refined with advisory members. External stakeholders then independently rated each item for its importance in expanding the evidence base (1 = not important to 5 = very important) via electronic survey. RESULTS: Our final list of 24 research questions included items that intersected all sexual and reproductive health topics as well as questions specific to human immunodeficiency virus/sexually transmitted infections (HIV/STIs), pregnancy prevention, confidentiality/consent, public health, and barriers and facilitators to care. External stakeholders rated items related to HIV/STI, cost-effectiveness, brief intervention for sexual risk reduction, and implementation and dissemination as most important. CONCLUSIONS: We identified critical questions to inform EM-based adolescent sexual and reproductive health research. Because evidence-based care has potential to improve health outcomes while reducing costs associated with HIV/STI and unintended pregnancy, funders and researchers should consider increasing attention to these key questions.

Sialocele Following Traumatic Dental Procedure: A Case Report and Review of Dental Complications.

We present a case of a 17-year-old girl with sialadenitis and sialocele due to trauma sustained from a dental procedure. Our objectives are to review relevant literature and anatomy of the floor of the mouth and salivary glands and discuss potential complications of dental procedures.

Things Are Not Always What They Seem: Two Cases of Child Maltreatment Presenting With Common Pediatric Chief Complaints.

We describe 2 cases of child maltreatment who presented as common pediatric conditions: preseptal cellulitis and gastroenteritis. The first case is an 8-year-old girl who presented with progressive right eye pain, swelling, and discharge. She was initially treated for preseptal cellulitis, but eye cultures ultimately grew Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Further investigation revealed sexual abuse by a male family member. The second case is a 2-year-old previously healthy girl who presented with 6 hours of emesis, lethargy, and abdominal pain. Initially attributed to viral gastroenteritis, her serum blood urea nitrogen and creatinine were above what was expected for her clinical course, and she later developed signs of peritonitis. She was ultimately found to have a large bladder wall defect secondary to inflicted blunt abdominal trauma. These cases are presented to emphasize the need for pediatricians to consider child abuse even when patients present with common pediatric complaints.

A Pediatric Emergency Department Intervention to Increase Contraception Initiation Among Adolescents.

BACKGROUND: The pediatric emergency department (PED) provides care for adolescents at high risk of unintended pregnancy, but little is known regarding the efficacy of PED-based pregnancy prevention interventions. The objectives of this PED-based pilot intervention study were to 1) assess the rate of contraception initiation after contraceptive counseling and appointment facilitation in the PED during the study period, 2) identify barriers to successful contraception initiation, and 3) determine adolescent acceptability of the intervention. METHODS: This pilot intervention study included females 14 to 19 years of age at risk for unintended pregnancy. Participants received standardized contraceptive counseling and were offered an appointment with gynecology. Participants were followed via electronic medical record and phone to assess contraception initiation and barriers. Chi-square tests were used to examine the association between contraception initiation and participant characteristics. RESULTS: A total of 144 patients were eligible, and 100 were enrolled. In the PED, 68% (68/100) expressed interest in initiating hormonal contraception, with 70% (48/68) of interested participants indicating that long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) was their preferred method. Twenty-five percent (25/100) of participants initiated contraception during the study period, with 19 participants starting LARC. Thirty-nine percent (22/57) of participants who accepted a gynecology appointment attended that appointment. Barriers to follow-up include transportation and inconvenient follow-up times. Participants were accepting of the intervention with 93% agreeing that the PED is an appropriate place for contraceptive counseling. CONCLUSIONS: PED contraceptive counseling is acceptable among adolescents and led to successful contraception initiation in 25% of participants. The main barrier to contraception initiation was participant follow-up with the gynecology appointment.

Improving Emergency Department Care for Pediatric Victims of Sexual Abuse.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Evidence-based medical care of sexual abuse victims who present to the pediatric emergency department (PED) is necessary to facilitate forensic evidence collection and prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Adherence to testing and treatment guidelines remains low in PEDs, despite recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We aimed to increase the proportion of patient encounters at a PED for reported sexual abuse that receive algorithm-adherent care from 57% to 90% within 12 months. METHODS: Our team of PED and child abuse pediatricians outlined our theory for improvement, and multiple plan-do-study-act cycles were conducted to test interventions that were aimed at key drivers. Interventions included the construction of a best practice algorithm derived from published guidelines, targeted clinician education, and integration of an electronic order set. Our primary outcome was the proportion of patient encounters in which care adhered to algorithm recommendations. Data were abstracted from the records of all patient encounters evaluated in the PED for reported sexual abuse. RESULTS: We analyzed 657 visits between July 2015 and January 2018. The proportion of patient encounters with algorithm-adherent care improved from 57% to 87% during the study period. This improvement has been sustained for 13 months. Failure to test for hepatitis and syphilis constituted the majority of nonadherent care. CONCLUSIONS: Using improvement methodology, we successfully increased algorithm-adherent evaluation and management of patients presenting for sexual abuse. Targeted education and an electronic order set were associated with improved adherence to a novel care algorithm.

Identification and Evaluation of Physical Abuse in Children.

Child physical abuse affects hundreds of thousands of children annually and is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in children. Pediatric health care providers play a key role in the recognition and treatment of suspected child abuse. Abusive injuries are often missed, which may lead to dire consequences for the child. Standardized screening tools and treatment guidelines can enhance early recognition of child abuse. This article reviews key findings in a medical history and physical examination that should raise suspicion for abuse. We also review the recommended evaluation that should occur when child abuse is suspected, as well as indications for reporting to child protective services. [Pediatr Ann. 2018;47(3):e97-e101.].

Do Adolescents With Higher Knowledge of HIV Have Lower Sexual Risk Behaviors?

OBJECTIVES: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States, and adolescents account for a disproportionate number of new cases. We aimed to assess knowledge of HIV in relation to sexual risk behaviors among adolescents seeking care in our pediatric emergency department and to assess sources of HIV knowledge among this population. METHODS: Adolescents aged 14 to 21 years who presented to the pediatric emergency department participated in a questionnaire assessing HIV knowledge, sexual risk behaviors, and sources of HIV knowledge. For purposes of statistical analysis, patients were divided into a high-score (greater than or equal to the median score) or low-score (less than the median score) group based on the HIV-Knowledge Questionnaire 18 portion of the survey. RESULTS: A total of 240 adolescents were enrolled. Of those, 112 patients scored higher than or equal to the median HIV-Knowledge Questionnaire 18 score of 11. High-scoring knowledge was independently associated with patients 18 years or older (P = 0.001), any lifetime sexual activity (odds ratio [OR], 2.18; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.30-3.67; P = 0.003), previous testing for HIV (OR, 2.40; 95% CI, 1.40-4.11; P = 0.002), and an "expert" source (school-based or medical professionals) as their primary source of knowledge (OR, 1.88; 95% CI, 1.05-3.41; P = 0.034). Age of first sexual encounter, number of partners, and condom use were not significantly associated with knowledge score. CONCLUSIONS: Education from "expert" sources is important in providing adolescents with accurate information. However, education alone is unlikely to change sexual practices. A more comprehensive approach to HIV prevention is needed to decrease HIV transmission among this patient population.