Why the jump in SSI benefits for kids?
March 1st 2016The number of children on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability has surged in recent years, and even after much discussion over the last 5 years, people are still trying to determine all the reasons. Some are asking whether we are doing the best we can for the children involved.
Toddler with blistering acrodermal rash
March 1st 2016The anxious parents of a previously healthy 19-month-old boy bring the child to the emergency department for evaluation of progressive rash that began 4 months ago. The skin eruption began as small blisters on his knees, which became tense and ruptured, eventually evolving to red-pink scaly plaques. Over the next few months, the boy developed similar lesions on his hands, elbows, neck, perineal area, and face, with sparing of the mucous membranes.
Spirometry establishes asthma control in children
March 1st 2016To provide children with asthma the best care, pediatricians and other healthcare providers who have them as their patients need to become educated on and facile in using a tool that is critical to the accurate diagnosis of asthma and asthma control. That tool is spirometry.
Are physicians missing the chance to recommend HPV vaccines?
February 25th 2016Physicians who opt against recommending HPV vaccination because they assume their patient is too young or not sexually active, or that the parent will refuse, are missing an opportunity to protect against a dangerous virus, according to a new study.
Does Medicaid mean poorer care?
February 18th 2016Although low-income families gained greater access to private insurance since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, a new study urges caution for policymakers looking to replace public programs that outshine private insurance for children’s healthcare.
Healthy newborns’ parents are more likely than NICU parents to quit smoking
February 1st 2016Surveys of 226 parents/caregivers of infants in the newborn nursery (NBN) and the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of a New York hospital who were smokers and whom practitioners referred to a smoking quitline made the surprising finding that parents of healthy newborns are more receptive to these referrals than parents of infants admitted to the NICU.
Is it okay to return to school the day after 1 strep throat treatment?
February 1st 2016An investigation in children treated for sore throat plus a positive streptococcal rapid antigen detection test (RADT) as a well as a positive culture result for group A Streptococcus (GAS) suggests that the answer to this question may well be “yes.”
‘No child left behind’ catches up
February 1st 2016The new 391-page Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA; S.1177), the first major rewrite of federal education law in 14 years, has lists of provisions to impact children in myriad ways, including efforts on safe and healthy schools, many different behavioral issues, early childhood education, and homeless children.
Talking to teens about marijuana
February 1st 2016The expanding number of states legalizing marijuana for medical and/or recreational use reflects a growing acceptance of the drug in the United States as an alternative therapy for specific medical conditions as well as a perceived legitimate drug for recreational use more akin to alcohol or cigarettes than heroin or cocaine.