Congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI) is the most common cause of persistent hypoglycemia in infancy. The mainstay of medical management for CHI is diazoxide. Diazoxide inhibits insulin release from the ...pancreas, but also causes smooth muscle relaxation and fluid retention so it is typically given with chlorothiazide. In July 2015, the FDA issued a drug safety communication warning that pulmonary hypertension (PH) had been reported in 11 infants being treated with diazoxide and that the PH resolved with withdrawal of diazoxide. All three of the cases in our hospital were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for hypoglycemia. All patients received thorough radiologic and laboratory evaluations related to their diagnosis of CHI. All initially improved when diazoxide was initiated. Case 1 and case 3 were discharged from the NICU on diazoxide and chlorothiazide. Case 2 developed pulmonary hypertension while still in the NICU days after an increase in diazoxide dosing. Case 1 presented to the emergency room in respiratory distress shortly after discharge from the NICU with evidence of PH and heart failure. Case 3 presented to the emergency room after 2 weeks at home due to a home blood glucose reading that was low and developed PH and heart failure while an inpatient. Discontinuation of diazoxide led to resolution of all three patients’ PH within approximately one week. The experience of our hospital indicates that pulmonary hypertension may be more common than previously thought in infants taking diazoxide. It is unclear if these symptoms develop slowly over time or if there is some other, as yet undescribed, trigger for the pulmonary hypertension. Our hospital’s experience adds to the body of evidence and suggests these infants may benefit from more surveillance with echocardiography.
Pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for >20 minutes has been considered futile after pediatric in-hospital cardiac arrests. This concept has recently been questioned, although the effect of ...CPR duration on outcomes has not recently been described. Our objective was to determine the relationship between CPR duration and outcomes after pediatric in-hospital cardiac arrests.
We examined the effect of CPR duration for pediatric in-hospital cardiac arrests from the Get With The Guidelines-Resuscitation prospective, multicenter registry of in-hospital cardiac arrests. We included 3419 children from 328 U.S. and Canadian Get With The Guidelines-Resuscitation sites with an in-hospital cardiac arrest between January 2000 and December 2009. Patients were stratified into 5 patient illness categories: surgical cardiac, medical cardiac, general medical, general surgical, and trauma. Survival to discharge was 27.9%, but only 19.0% of all cardiac arrest patients had favorable neurological outcomes. Between 1 and 15 minutes of CPR, survival decreased linearly by 2.1% per minute, and rates of favorable neurological outcome decreased by 1.2% per minute. Adjusted probability of survival was 41% for CPR duration of 1 to 15 minutes and 12% for >35 minutes. Among survivors, favorable neurological outcome occurred in 70% undergoing <15 minutes of CPR and 60% undergoing CPR >35 minutes. Compared with general medical patients, surgical cardiac patients had the highest adjusted odds ratios for survival and favorable neurological outcomes, 2.5 (95% confidence interval, 1.8-3.4) and 2.7 (95% confidence interval, 2.0-3.9), respectively.
CPR duration was independently associated with survival to hospital discharge and neurological outcome. Among survivors, neurological outcome was favorable for the majority of patients. Performing CPR for >20 minutes is not futile in some patient illness categories.
Abstract
Introduction
Clinician burnout is widespread throughout medicine, affecting professionalism, communication, and increases the risk of medical errors, thus impacting safe quality patient ...care. Previous studies have shown Peer Support Programs (PSPs) promote workforce wellness by supporting clinicians during times of heightened stress and vulnerability. Although these programs have been implemented in large institutions, they have not been used in military hospitals, which have high staff turnover and added stressors of deployments.
Materials and Methods
In December 2018, 50 physicians received 5 hours of PSP training at a military hospital from a nationally recognized PSP expert, following the programmatic structure described by Shapiro and Galowitz (2016). Utilization of the program was tracked from December 2018 to December 2019, recording only classification of provider type, triggering event, and provider specialty to maintain confidentiality. Qualitative comments from recipients and supporters were saved anonymously for quality improvement purposes.
Results
In the first year of our PSP, 254 clinicians (102 40.2% residents/fellows, 91 35.8% staff physicians, 4 1.6% medical students, 35 13.8% nurses, 22 8.7% allied health) received 1:1 peer support. Primary specialties utilizing peer support included 135 (52.9%) medical, 59 (23.2%) surgical, 43 (16.9%) obstetric, and 18 (7.1%) pediatric. Patient death (25%), risk management notification (22%), medical error/complication (15%), and poor patient outcome (13%) were the most common events triggering peer support. Peer support was provided at 8 locations across the continental United States with universally positive comments from recipients.
Conclusions
Implementation of a PSP at our institution led to rapid utilization across multiple hospitals in the military health system, a model that could easily expand to deployed settings and remote locations. Access to peer support across the military health system could both mitigate the increased risks of military clinician burnout, and improve patient safety, healthcare worker resilience, and service member readiness.
Hyperbilirubinemia in the first 24 hours of life in a newborn is pathologic, necessitating additional evaluation. We report the first case of hemolysis and subsequent hyperbilirubinemia in an ...otherwise normal term neonate resulting from oxidative stress in the form of maternal cautopyreiophagia: the ingestion of burnt matchstick heads. During the third trimester of pregnancy, the infant's mother consumed more than 300 burnt matchstick heads weekly for 4 weeks. Matches contain potassium chlorate, a powerful oxidant that when ingested can ultimately lead to the destruction of erythrocytes, disseminated intravascular coagulation, kidney injury, or death. The infant's bilirubin rose as high as 17 mg/dL at 22 hours of life; however, the infant did well with a brief course of phototherapy. This case highlights the importance of prenatal questioning about maternal ingestion of potentially oxidative substances and assessing the possible risk for the infant.
Besides care for injured US military personnel, doctrine also requires life-, limb-, and eyesight-saving care to all injured casualties, including children. This study's objective was to evaluate the ...burden and epidemiology of pediatric medical care during the past decade of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Retrospective review of two military registries of all patients admitted to combat support hospitals and forward surgical teams from 2001 through 2011 was conducted. Pediatric (PED) patients were defined as younger than 18 years. Adult patients were divided into local civilian/noncoalition military (LOCAL) and coalition (COALITION) soldiers.
A total of 7,505 PED patients, 25,459 LOCAL adults, and 95,618 COALITION soldiers were analyzed in the primary registry. Children represented 5.8% of all admissions (11% bed days), LOCAL adults represented 20% (36% bed days), and COALITION soldiers represented 74% (53% bed days). PED median (interquartile range) length of stay was 3 days (1-7 days), longer than LOCAL with 2 days (1-6 days), and COALITION with 1 day (1-2 days) (p < 0.001). PED Injury Severity Score (ISS) was 9 (4-16), similar to LOCAL with 9 (4-16) but higher than COALITION with 5 (2-10) (p < 0.001). Mortality in trauma patients was highest in PED (8.5%) compared with LOCAL (7.1%) and COALITION (3%) (p < 0.01). Mechanisms of injury for PED trauma were blast (37%), penetrating (27%), blunt (23%), and burn (13%). Factors independently associated with PED mortality included ISS (odds ratio, 95% confidence interval) (1.08, 1.06-1.09), Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score (0.85, 0.82-0.88), base excess (0.87, 0.85-0.90), female sex (1.73, 1.18-2.52), age less than 8 years (1.43, 1.00-2.04), and burns (3.17, 1.89-5.32).
Deployed medical facilities not staffed or equipped to typical civilian standards have a high burden of pediatric casualties requiring care. The cause of increased mortality in pediatric versus adult populations despite similar severity of injury is potentially multifactorial. Military medical planners need to consider pediatric resources and training to improve outcomes for children injured during combat.
Epidemiologic study, level III.
Analysis of military Graduate Medical Education (GME) remains in the discussion forefront as resources continue to face scrutiny along with military-specific obligation challenges. The Military ...Health System Quadruple Aim of Better Care, Better Health, Lower Cost, and Increased Readiness continues to drive debate of the right approach to both GME and Graduate Allied Health education. In this paper, we expand the discussion beyond traditional physician-focused GME and include the military's highly trained allied health specialists. Graduate Allied Health medical providers provide quality and effective medical care to the military's service members and dependents. These specialists also carry a significant deployment and operational medicine footprint complimenting core physician medical specialties delivering cost-efficient, optimal patient care and providing a ready force. This paper addresses GME and GAH interprofessionalism, institutional culture endorsement, patient safety, increasing demand, research productivity, and encouraging physician retention altogether benefiting the Military Health System. This institution's support for the interprofessional GME model works well, expanding physician and GAH specialists' professional application and knowledge while garnering mutual respect across all medical disciplines ultimately benefiting all.
Abstract
Background
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) has over 375,000 military personnel, civilian employees, and their dependents. Routine pediatric care is available in theater, but ...pediatric subspecialty, surgical, and intensive care often require patient movement. Transfer is frequently performed by military air evacuation teams and intermittently augmented by civilian services. Pediatric care requires special training and equipment, yet most transports are staffed by non-pediatric specialists. We seek to describe the epidemiology of pediatric transport missions in INDOPACOM.
Methods
A retrospective review of all patients less than 18 years old transported within INDOPACOM and logged into the Transportation Command Regulating and Command and Control Evacuation System (TRAC2ES) database from June 2008 through June 2018 was conducted. Data are reported using descriptive statistics. Patients were categorized into four age groups: neonatal (<31 days), infant (31-364 days), young children (1 to <8 years), and older children (8-17 years).
Results
During the study period, 687 out of 4,217 (16.3%) transports were children. Median age was 4 years (interquartile range 6 months to 8 years) and 654 patients (95.2%) were transported via military fixed-wing aircraft. There were 219 (31.9%) neonates, 162 (23.6%) infants, 133 (19.4%) young children, and 173 (25.2%) older children. Most common diagnoses encountered were respiratory, cardiac, or abdominal, although older children had a higher percentage of psychiatric diagnoses (28%). Mechanical ventilation was used in 118 (17.2%) patients, and 75 (63.6%) of these patients were neonates.
Conclusions
Within TRAC2ES, nearly one in six encounters were patients aged <18 years, with neonates or infants representing nearly one of three pediatric encounters. Slightly more than one in six pediatric patients required intubation for transport. The data suggest the need for appropriately trained transport teams and equipment be provided to support these missions.
Our objectives were to review and categorize the existing data sources that are important to pediatric critical care medicine (PCCM) investigators and the types of questions that have been or could ...be studied with each data source. We conducted a narrative review of the medical literature, categorized the data sources available to PCCM investigators, and created an online data source registry. We found that many data sources are available for research in PCCM. To date, PCCM investigators have most often relied on pediatric critical care registries and treatment- or disease-specific registries. The available data sources vary widely in the level of clinical detail and the types of questions they can reliably answer. Linkage of data sources can expand the types of questions that a data source can be used to study. Careful matching of the scientific question to the best available data source or linked data sources is necessary. In addition, rigorous application of the best available analysis techniques and reporting consistent with observational research standards will maximize the quality of research using existing data in PCCM.
PDF
