Perspectives on preparedness for pediatric emergencies after residency: A needs assessment.

Background: General emergency physicians provide most pediatric emergency care in the United States yet report more challenges managing emergencies in children than adults. Recommendations for standardized pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) curricula to address educational gaps due to variations in pediatric exposure during emergency medicine (EM) training lack learner input. This study surveyed senior EM residents and recent graduates about their perceived preparedness to manage pediatric emergencies to better inform PEM curricula design. Methods: In 2021, senior EM residents and graduates from the classes of 2020 and 2019 across eight EM programs with PEM rotations at the same children's hospital were recruited and surveyed electronically to assess perceived preparedness for 42 pediatric emergencies and procedures by age: infants under 1 year, toddlers, and children over 4 years. Preparedness was reported on a 5-point Likert scale with 1 or 2 defined as "unprepared." A chi-square test of independence compared the proportion of respondents unprepared to manage each condition across age groups, and a p-value < 0.05 demonstrated significance. Results: The response rate was 53% (129/242), with a higher response rate from senior residents (65%). Respondents reported feeling unprepared to manage more emergency conditions in infants compared to other age groups. Respondents felt least prepared to manage inborn errors of metabolism and congenital heart disease, with 45%-68% unprepared for these conditions across ages. A heat map compared senior residents to recent graduates. More graduates reported feeling unprepared for major trauma, impending respiratory failure, and pediatric advanced life support algorithms. Conclusions: This study, describing the perspective of EM senior residents and recent graduates, offers unique insights into PEM curricular needs during EM training. Future PEM curricula should target infant complaints and conditions with lower preparedness scores across ages. Other centers training EM residents could use our findings and methods to bolster PEM curricula.

Resident perspectives on professionalism lack common consensus.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: We sought to characterize and understand the residents' perspective on how professionalism develops through pediatric emergency medicine experiences. METHODS: Qualitative methods (freelisting--listing words associated with professionalism--and semistructured interviews) were conducted with senior emergency medicine and pediatric residents about their experiences rotating in the emergency department of a large, urban, tertiary care, freestanding children's hospital. All senior residents were eligible, with purposive sampling to maximize demographic variability. Saliency (importance) of words was analyzed with Smith S scores and consensus analysis. Interviews were conducted until content saturation was achieved; transcripts were coded by independent investigators to reach thematic consensus. RESULTS: Twenty-five interviews (36% emergency, 64% pediatrics) were conducted. Common words associated with professionalism were "respect," "compassion," "empathy," and "integrity"; however, residents did not share a common consensus. The framework for how residents described the development of their professionalism includes observations, interactions, and environment. Examples include resident observation of role models; interactions with patients, families, and coworkers; self-reflection; and the unique environment of the ED. Residents believed that role modeling was the most influential factor. Few reported receiving sufficient observation by attending physicians during their interactions with patients and most reported receiving little direct feedback on their professionalism. Residents' descriptions of professionalism crossed multiple Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) competencies. CONCLUSION: Residents displayed high variability in their understanding of professionalism, which was frequently at variance with the corresponding ACGME competency definition. The resident perspective and understanding of professionalism may usefully inform refinements in ACGME milestones and entrustable professional activities.

Predictive value of weight-for-age to identify overweight children.

OBJECTIVE: The objective was to assess the predictive value of weight-for-age to identify overweight children and adolescents in the unusual research or public health situations where height is not available to calculate BMI. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999 to 2004 were used to calculate the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of selected weight-for-age cut-off points to identify overweight children and adolescents (as defined by BMI >or=95th percentile). Positive and negative predictive values are dependent on prevalence and are reported here for this study population only. RESULTS: The 50th and 75th weight-for-age percentiles had good sensitivity (100% and 99.6%, respectively), but poor positive predictive value (23.7% and 37.0%, respectively), while the 95th and 97th percentiles had reasonable positive predictive value (80.3% and 91.5%, respectively), but limited sensitivity (82.0% and 66.7%, respectively) to identify overweight subjects. The properties of weight-for-age percentiles to identify overweight subjects differed between sex, age, and race/ethnicity but remain within a relatively narrow range. DISCUSSION: No single weight-for-age cut-off point was found to identify overweight children and adolescents with acceptable values for all properties and, therefore, cannot be used in the clinical setting. Furthermore, the positive predictive values reported here may be lower in populations with a lower prevalence of obesity. However, in unusual research or public health situations where height is not available, such as existing databases, weight-for-age percentiles may be useful to target limited resources to groups more likely to include overweight children and adolescents than the general population.

Tick paralysis: atypical presentation, unusual location.

We present 2 unrelated cases of tick paralysis presenting within a 2-month period in the greater Philadelphia region, a geographic area in which this disease is highly unusual. Our first patient demonstrated early onset of prominent bulbar palsies, an atypical presentation. Our second patient, residing in a nearby but distinct community, presented with ascending paralysis 2 months after the first. The atypical presentation of our first patient and the further occurrence within a few months of a second patient, both from the Northeastern United States where this diagnosis is rarely made, suggest the need to maintain a high index of suspicion for this disease in patients presenting with acute onset of cranial nerve dysfunction or muscle weakness. Through simple diagnostic and therapeutic measures (ie, careful physical examination to locate and remove the offending tick), misdiagnosis and unnecessary morbidity can be avoided.

Early detection of imperforate hymen prevents morbidity from delays in diagnosis.

OBJECTIVE: Although it is detectable at all ages through inspection of the external genitalia, imperforate hymen (IH) is a diagnosis that is missed commonly. We hypothesized that children with late diagnoses (predefined as > or =8 years of age, chosen to reflect the timing of normal menarche) would be more likely to be symptomatic, undergo more diagnostic testing, and lack appropriate documentation in their medical records, compared with children with earlier diagnoses (ie, <8 years of age). METHODS: All patients with IH were identified through searches of 3 hospital databases with International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, codes. The medical records of eligible subjects were reviewed by a single, blinded researcher. Comparisons were made between children diagnosed at younger versus older ages. RESULTS: A bimodal distribution of age at diagnosis was demonstrated; 43% (n = 10) of girls were diagnosed at <8 years of age, and 57% (n = 13) were diagnosed at > or =8 years of age. Among older girls, 100% were symptomatic (abdominal pain and/or urinary symptoms; duration of symptoms: 1-120 days), whereas 90% of cases in the younger group were detected incidentally. Documentation was lacking for breast development (77%), pubic hair development (69%), and menstrual history (46%) among the older girls. Older children were more likely to present symptomatically (odds ratio: 42.0; 95% confidence interval: 3.1-1965.7) and to undergo ancillary testing (odds ratio: 20.3; 95% confidence interval: 1.6-983.1). CONCLUSIONS: Two distinct populations of girls with IH exist, ie, those diagnosed without symptoms at a young age and those not diagnosed until >8 years of age. By incorporating an examination of the external genitalia into their routine practice, clinicians caring for children can prevent the significant delays in diagnosis, misdiagnosis, and morbidity associated with the latter group.

A randomized, clinical trial of a home safety intervention based in an emergency department setting.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of an emergency department (ED)-based home safety intervention on caregivers' behaviors and practices related to home safety. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, clinical trial of 96 consecutive caregivers of children who were younger than 5 years and presented to an urban pediatric ED for evaluation of an acute unintentional injury sustained in the home. After completing a structured home safety questionnaire via face-to-face interview, caregivers were randomly assigned to receive either comprehensive home safety education and free safety devices or focused, injury-specific ED discharge instructions. Participants were contacted by telephone 2 months after the initial ED visit for repeat administration of the safety questionnaire. The pretest and posttest questionnaires were scored such that the accrual of points correlated with reporting of safer practices. Scores were then normalized to a 100-point scale. The overall safety score reflected performance on the entire questionnaire, and the 8 category safety scores reflected performance in single areas of home injury prevention (fire, burn, poison, near-drowning, aspiration, cuts/piercings, falls, and safety device use). The main outcome was degree of improvement in safety practices as assessed by improvement in safety scores. RESULTS: The intervention group demonstrated a significantly higher average overall safety score at follow-up than the control group (73.3% +/- 8.4% vs 66.8% +/-11.1) and significant improvements in poison, cut/piercing, and burns category scores. Caregivers in the intervention group also demonstrated greater improvement in reported use of the distributed safety devices. CONCLUSIONS: This educational and device disbursement intervention was effective in improving the home safety practices of caregivers of young children. Moreover, the ED was used effectively to disseminate home injury prevention information.

Poisoning prevention education during emergency department visits for childhood poisoning.

OBJECTIVE: Childhood poisoning represents a major public health problem that can be prevented through educational efforts. Commonly, young children experiencing a first poisoning episode will have a second occurrence. The aim of this study is to assess whether caretakers of children evaluated in an emergency department for acute poisoning exposure recall receiving poisoning prevention education as part of the medical encounter. METHODS: Consecutive poisoning exposures reported to a regional Poison Control Center concerning children under the age of 6 years were identified. Inclusion criteria were an emergency department referral and subsequent discharge. Within 10 days of emergency department visit, a single trained interviewer administered by telephone a scripted questionnaire concerning the provision of poisoning prevention education. Poison control center logs were reviewed for demographic and treatment data. RESULTS: Of 102 eligible subjects, 77 families were contacted and 75 participated. The median age of poison exposure was 2 years; 45% were male. Seventy-three percent (95% CI: 61% to 83%) of caregivers reported receiving no poisoning prevention education. Among the minority receiving some information, only 25% received verbal instruction. Caregivers of children treated in urban academic centers were more likely to recall prevention education than those treated at suburban and rural hospitals (RR = 5.4; 1.8 to 16.2). Caregivers of children treated at specialized children's hospitals were more likely recall prevention education than general hospitals (RR = 5.3; 1.6 to 17.7). CONCLUSION: Emergency department personnel are missing a potentially important opportunity to provide poisoning prevention education to families of children at high risk for repeat occurrence.

Mild traumatic brain injury in children: practice guidelines for emergency department and hospitalized patients. The Trauma Program, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) is a frequent occurrence in children. Current practice in treating such injuries varies in terms of evaluative studies, length of observation, need for inpatient hospitalization, sports restrictions, and follow-up. A multidisciplinary panel of experts from a level I pediatric trauma center was convened to develop and implement a clinical pathway to improve the quality and consistency of care provided to children after MTBI. The clinical pathway, based on current literature and expert consensus, provides a management guideline for the management of MTBI in the emergency department through discharge. The algorithm provides reasonable management options based on the child's clinical presentation, history, and age. Exemplary care of children and their families after MTBI includes appropriate patient/family education. Standardized discharge instructions for MTBI were developed to provide comprehensive information in a succinct and easy-to-read format. The instructions for home management focus on expected symptoms and guidance for when to seek further medical attention. They also incorporate injury prevention, return to sports guidelines, and resources for additional information.