Opioids: The menace in our midst
September 24th 2017Opioids have impacted every population served by all healthcare providers in the United States and by now every nurse practitioner (NP) has been exposed to the opioid scourge. Perhaps it’s time to reassess the role for NPs in caring for their individual populations confronting an opioid crisis.
Talk the talk: Early language exposure impacts brain development
September 18th 2017It’s no secret that babies love to look at their parents’ faces and hear their voices, but pediatricians are now being challenged to help parents understand that what they say to their children in the first years of their life can have a lasting effect on their brain development and scholastic achievement.
Dental problems may play a role in RAOM
September 7th 2017Pediatricians may want to consider taking a look inside the mouth of a child with recurrent acute otitis media. A new study from Italy reveals that repairing dental malocclusion may have positive effects on a child’s eustachian tube function and the number of episodes of acute otitis media (AOM) they have.
Parents still sway HPV uptake in undergrads
September 6th 2017For whatever reasons, uptake of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in the teenaged years is mediocre, but do the college years offer new opportunities for healthcare providers to encourage the vaccine? Maybe not, according to a new study.
Should surgery be standard of care in uncomplicated appendicitis? (VIDEO)
September 4th 2017For Contemporary Pediatrics, Dr Bobby Lazzara discusses a large study published in Pediatrics that examined what happened when children were nonsurgically managed for appendicitis, often with antibiotics, and compared the results with their peers who had received surgical treatment.
Girl’s papular rash will not respond to treatment
September 1st 2017The mother of a healthy 5-year-old girl brings her to the office for evaluation of 2 itchy plaques on her right ankle that have worsened over the last 10 days despite treatment for possible tinea corporis with topical clotrimazole 1% ointment and hydrocortisone 2.5% ointment. A fungal culture is pending.
7 lower limb positional variations
September 1st 2017Concerns regarding the appearance of a child’s lower extremities are a common reason for visits to the pediatrician and a frequent source of orthopedic referrals. The aim of this article is to provide guidance on the diagnosis and management of 7 common lower limb positional variations in children and adolescents.
Antibiotics improve outcomes in small skin abscesses
September 1st 2017Antibiotic treatment with either clindamycin or trimethoprim- sulfa - methoxazole (TMP-SMX) leads to better outcomes than incision and drainage with placebo in patients with uncomplicated cutaneous abscesses, particularly those caused by Staphylococcus aureus, according to a large study.
Nonoperative management of acute appendicitis
September 1st 2017Compared with traditional appendectomy, nonoperative management (NOM) of uncomplicated appendicitis using parenteral antibiotics is associated with more subsequent emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations, as well as more subsequent appendectomies.