Simulation has acquired wide acceptance as an important component of education in health care and as a key tool to increase patient safety. This study aimed at identifying to what extent and how ...pediatric and neonatal simulation-based training (SBT) was being carried out in four Central European regions.
We surveyed all pediatric and neonatal health care institutions in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and South Tyrol on their current state of SBT using an online questionnaire.
We dispatched 440 questionnaires with a 45.9% response rate. Sixty-one percent (61.4%) of institutions performed SBT (algorithm training, 87.4%; skill training, 62.2%; high-fidelity SBT, 56.8%). Training was conducted interprofessionally at 88.9% of surveyed institutions. Physicians and nurses most often received SBT once per year. Lack of financial (62.2%) and personnel (54.1%) resources were the most frequent impediments to establish SBT.
Although delivered heterogeneously, widespread use of pediatric simulation and a considerable number of already existing SBT programs are the key findings of this survey. These data are encouraging enough to promote more effective networking in simulation-based research, education, training, and quality improvement, as we aim to ultimately increase patient safety for neonates, infants, and children.
Spinal cord injury of the newborn is a rare and critical condition which is typically reported after difficult deliveries. The few cases of spinal cord injury after caesarean section reported in ...literature are usually associated with intrauterine hyperextension of the head. However, in exceptional cases the authors described intrauterine vascular insults as a possible cause for spinal cord lesions during pregnancy.
A term infant was born after an uncomplicated caesarean section following cephalic presentation. Pregnancy was reported as uneventful. Foetal ultrasounds were normal and showed no evidence of hyperextension of the head. Although the boy was in good general conditions after birth, he showed a flaccid paralysis of both upper extremities with absent deep tendon reflexes and missing pain response. Other neurologic findings like general tonus and reactivity as well as spontaneous movements of both lower extremities were adequate. A spinal MRI performed at 48 h of life showed intact brachial plexuses with evidence of spinal cord lesion compatible with an ischemic injury. Accurate anamnesis revealed that the mother had perceived reduced foetal movements in the last 2 days before birth, suggesting a possible intrauterine origin of the ischaemic event.
Our case reinforces the hypothesis that small ischaemic spinal cord lesions may occur during uncomplicated pregnancy. Therefore, such lesions may not always be related to a difficult delivery. Irrespective of the cause, treatment and parental counselling remain challenging due to the rarity of reported cases.
Abstract
Objective: To determine the occurrence of hypoglycemic episodes in very low birth weight preterm infants under total enteral nutrition and identify potential risk factors.
Methods: In this ...single centre cohort study, we analyzed the patients' charts of preterm infants with a gestational age <32 weeks (n = 98). Infants were analyzed in two groups (group 1: birth weight <1000 g, n = 54; group 2: birth weight 1000-1499 g, n = 44). A total of 3640 pre-feeding blood glucose measurements were screened. Risk factors for the development of hypoglycemia were identified by linear and multiple logistic regression analyses.
Results: In group 1, 44% (24 of 54) of infants experienced at least one asymptomatic episode of blood glucose <45 mg/dl (<2.5 mmol/l) as compared with 23% (10 of 44) in group 2. Regression analysis identified low gestational age and high carbohydrate intake as potential risk factors for the development of hypoglycemia.
Conclusions: Our results indicate that numerous preterm infants experience hypoglycemic episodes once on total enteral nutrition, especially those who are <1000 g at birth and those with a higher carbohydrate intake. Further studies evaluating a possible impact of these common although asymptomatic episodes on later development could help to better define thresholds that should be considered as "hypoglycemia" in this population.
To assess the influence of intravesical instillation of epirubicin or bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in patients with bladder cancer on the clinical performance of the uCyt+ test, which traces the ...three monoclonal antibodies M344, LDQ 10, and 19A211 in urothelial cells.
A total of 267 patients with a mean age of 70.5 years (range 35 to 87) were included in this prospective study. All patients were being followed up after complete transurethral resection of superficial urothelial cancer. All patients received a single instillation of 80 mg epirubicin within 24 hours of transurethral resection and 163 underwent subsequent cycles of chemotherapy with epirubicin or immunotherapy with BCG. This was because of multifocality, high-recurrence, or high-grade urothelial cancer. At the next control, all patients underwent urinary cytology, with the uCyt+ test performed on liquid-based cytology (ThinPrep), subsequent cystoscopy, and evaluation of any suspicious lesion by biopsy. Patients who underwent intravesical BCG therapy underwent random bladder cold biopsy after every instillation series.
Of the 267 patients, 8 could not be evaluated by uCyt+ because of insufficient cells. Of the remaining 259 patients under assessment, 86 had proven urothelial cancer. In the 101 patients under assessment with only a single intravesical instillation of epirubicin (group 1), the overall sensitivity for cytology and the uCyt+ test was 44.7% and 76.6%, respectively. Cytology had a specificity of 90.7% and uCyt+ of 64.8%. The negative predictive value for cytology and uCyt+ was 65.3% and 76.1%, respectively. Of the 158 patients under evaluation who were treated with long-term intravesical therapy (group 2), the overall sensitivity and specificity for cytology and the uCyt+ test was 37.8% and 84.6% and 94.9% and 70.6%, respectively. The negative predictive value for cytology and the uCyt+ test was 83.1% and 93.3%, respectively. Statistical analysis showed no statistically significant difference between the overall sensitivity (
P = 0.512) and specificity (
P = 0.558) for the uCyt+ test in the two groups of patients.
The sensitivity and specificity of the uCyt+ test are not significantly affected by intravesical long-term treatment with epirubicin or BCG.
A 6-month-old male infant presented with failure to thrive. Hypernatraemia and elevated serum osmolality in the presence of low urine sodium and osmolality led to the diagnosis of diabetes insipidus. ...Administration of 1-deamino-8-D-arginine vasopressin (dDAVP) neither decreased urine volume nor increased urine osmolality indicating congenital nephrogenic diabetes insipidus. Molecular analysis in the arginine-vasopressin receptor-2 gene (AVPR2) located on chromosome Xq28 demonstrated a novel 5-base pair deletion (c.962-966delACCCC; g.1429-1433delACCCC) leading to a shift of the reading frame (p.Asn321fs) and a premature termination codon implying an absent or non-functional protein. Treatment with hydrochlorothiazide, amiloride and indomethacin led to a favourable clinical course.
Intracranial penetration during attempted nasotracheal intubation is a potentially devastating complication, which should be carefully evaluated and the risk should be addressed in neonatal ...resuscitation trainings.
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