How Oregon laws tackle teen mental health and suicide risk
September 11th 2019Oregon has passed several new laws aimed at suicide prevention, with 2 of those specifically targeting students by offering excused mental health days and requiring school districts to develop comprehensive suicide prevention plans for at-risk students.
Does fast food increase risk of depression in teens?
August 30th 2019Fast food is a common element of many teenagers’ diets. This ubiquitous nature has frustrated pediatric providers fighting the tide of pediatric obesity, but a new small study from University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers indicates that another negative consequence could be an increased risk of depression.
Opioids unnecessary for tonsillectomy pain relief
August 30th 2019With a full-blown opioid epidemic making headlines, the push to use nonopioid medications to treat pain has been pervasive. However, a recent study indicates that children undergoing a tonsillectomy may be given opioid pain relief, going against current practice guidelines that recommend nonopioid relief.
Rethinking how anaphylaxis presents
August 28th 2019Dr. Todd A. Mahr, president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, discusses anaphylaxis and when to have your patient seek specialty care. Anaphylaxis is typically thought of as severe, acute and visibly evident. However, as Dr. Mahr points out, anaphylaxis can present differently in infants and young children.
48 minutes of extra sleep can improve academic engagement
August 27th 2019The start of a new school year brings back to the forefront the issue of school start times. In spite of a policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics recommending that high schools begin no earlier than 8:30 AM, many middle and high schools still start much earlier than the recommendation. However, the Cherry Creek School District in Colorado decided to run an experiment with later start times.
What should practices do about the completely unvaccinated child?
August 27th 2019The number of completely unvaccinated children may not be large, but they pose a challenge to the pediatric practice. A recent C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health asked a sample of parents how their child’s primary care office deals with children who are completely unvaccinated and how they believe primary care offices should tackle the issue.
How coaching could reduce burnout
August 22nd 2019It’s one of the biggest problems facing the medical field and has an economic impact of roughly $4.6 billion each year. However, tackling physician burnout can feel like a gargantuan task. A recent study examines whether coaching can help tackle the task.
Autistic spectrum disorder: Challenges in the medical home
August 22nd 2019'Building a medical home for children with autism' describes the importance of establishing a medical home in a pediatric office for children with a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and discusses five major management strategies for the successful management of children in the medical home.
Sudden neutropenia and emesis in an SGA infant
August 21st 2019A 24-year-old G2P1001 African American female at 38.2 weeks of gestation was induced for labor for a fetus with prenatally diagnosed intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). She subsequently delivered via normal spontaneous delivery. The infant initially latched well at the breast, was normoglycemic and normothermic, but shortly after birth had had a significant episode of blood-tinged emesis (not deemed to be swallowed maternal blood) and was transferred to the transitional nursery for further evaluation.