Who remembers going to the doctor’s office and playing with one of these? Likely very few children are playing with mobile bead toys like these anymore – instead they play with their parents’ mobile phones. This is less of a… Continue Reading →
Don’t be that relative that gives a kid the gift that leads to a PED visit. Some of the most dangerous toys are: – Water beads: tiny beads that expand many times their original size when wet (kids may insert them in… Continue Reading →
Just read a PED-EM-L post from Todd Z (in response to a questioner wanting to improve Press Ganey scores) that really resonated. Customer (parent) satisfaction is an important part of the ED visit, even if you are not beholden to… Continue Reading →
Tripledemic is here, and many a chief complaint will be, “he just won’t stop coughing” or “she has a fever.” PEMsource has a new Urgent Care section with tips, differential diagnoses, symptomatic treatments, dosing of common medications, and parent education aids, for… Continue Reading →
(Click the link to comment and to vote – voting not working through email, sorry!) A childless uncle & aunt are picking up a last-minute holiday gift for their nephews and nieces. They desparately want to be thought of as… Continue Reading →
Do you ever have a parent that has many many questions about how to handle minor illnesses and trauma but also a crazy busy PED with other patients requiring your attention? I once spent 30 minutes answering nervous first-time parents’… Continue Reading →
Managing parent expectations is half of pediatric emergency medicine. When parents bring in kids with worsened eczema (either as a chief complaint or a side complaint), they are often frustrated that they used the prescribed cream, things got better, but… Continue Reading →
We are seeing unprecedented numbers of cases of RSV, and many of our patients are older school-age children. Ever wonder when those kids can return to school? RSV is contagious up to 8 days after symptom onset, so children can… Continue Reading →
(Click the link to comment and to vote – voting not working through email, sorry!) Note: controversies are not meant to have a “right” answer – they are to see how most people are practicing. Would love your comments also… Continue Reading →
Asking Saves Kids: Firearms are now the leading cause of death for U.S. children aged 1-19 years. While school mass shootings make headlines, suicides make up the majority of these deaths. Accidental shootings by curious children who access unsecured firearms… Continue Reading →
These come from Joe Ravera – creator of great podcast PEM GEMS – the U in BRUE stands for unexplained. So if it’s explainable, it’s not a BRUE. For example, if the baby vomited after eating and then choked on… Continue Reading →
(Click the link to comment and to vote – voting not working through email, sorry!) Note: controversies are not meant to have a “right” answer – they are to see how most people are practicing. Would love your comments also… Continue Reading →
To calculate the mL of standard concentration ibuprofen (100 mg / 5 mL) or acetaminophen (160 mg / 5 mL) to give, take the child’s weight in kg and divide by 2. mL of ibuprofen or acetaminophen = child’s weight… Continue Reading →
Respiratory virus season is here, and we all know that the FDA recommends against the use of OTC cough medications in children < 4 years old (due to too many adverse effects and lack of efficacy). Some studies have shown… Continue Reading →
Part of the new AAP BRUE algorithm’s definition of low-risk BRUE (Brief Resolved Unexplained Event) is that the event duration was < 1 minute. I always ask the caretaker to walk me through what happened step by step, using “and then… Continue Reading →
Here’s a quick and dirty method to recall developmental milestones See the zero 0 as the “o” in tone, as the eyes for gaze, and as the mouth for strong suck The word two (months) is a combination of track… Continue Reading →
(Click the link to comment and to vote – voting not working through email, sorry!) You are seeing a 4 week old brought in for vomiting with every feed. The vomitus is non-bilious, non-projectile, and non-bloody. The baby is making… Continue Reading →
Explain to parents – colds are called colds because viruses thrive in cold temperatures, so fevers are the body’s natural way to fight off the cold
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