ObjectivesThe objective was to apply and evaluate a screening tool to identify victims of child sex trafficking (CST) in a pediatric emergency department (PED) population.MethodsThis prospective, observational study was conducted from July 2017 to November 2017 at the PED of a free‐standing, inner‐city children's hospital. Patients 10 to 18 years of age presenting with chief complaints related to high‐risk social or sexual behaviors were recruited in a representative convenience sampling. A previously developed six‐item screening tool was administered verbally to participants. A positive screen was defined as two positive answers from the six items. A patient was considered a “true” CST victim if any information obtained during the visit indicated that their circumstances fulfilled the federal definition of CST. Descriptive statistics were calculated for all variables of interest. CST screening tool analysis included sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values (PPV, NPV). Those patients identified as positive for CST were referred to social services and received the current standard of care.ResultsA total of 254 patients met chief complaint screening criteria and eligibility; 215 were approached to participate and 203 agreed to participate. Of the 203 participants, 100 screened positive with the tool (49%). The total number of CST victims identified was 11 (5.4%), 10 of whom screened positive. With a cutoff score of two positive answers the tool demonstrated a 90.9% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 58.7%–99.8%) sensitivity, 53.1% (95% CI = 45.6%–60.4%) specificity, 10.0% (95% CI = 5.0%–17.6%) PPV, and 99.0% (95% CI = 94.7%–99.9%) NPV.ConclusionsApplied to an inner‐city PED population of 203 participants with high‐risk chief complaints, the screening tool has high sensitivity and high NPV. This makes it appropriate for an initial screening to rule out CST in this high‐risk population. Applicability for broader use and additional practice settings are warranted given the significant positivity rate among those presenting with high‐risk concerns.

Seizures are a commonly encountered condition within the emergency department and, because of this, can engender complacency on the part of the physicians and staff. Unfortunately, there is significant associated morbidity and mortality with seizures, and they should never be regarded as routine. This point is particularly important with respect to seizures in pediatric patients. The aim of this review is to provide a current view of the various issues that make pediatric seizures unique and to help elucidate emergent evaluation and management strategies.

Background The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends the ABCs of safe infant sleep (alone, back, clear crib) to combat the increasing rates of Sudden Unexplained Infant Death (SUID). It is unclear if these recommendations are followed for infants hospitalized in pediatric facilities after the newborn period. The objectives of this study were to assess baseline infant sleep behaviors at a tertiary care freestanding pediatric hospital and to evaluate the effectiveness of a hospital-based infant safe sleep program in improving adherence to safe sleep recommendations. Methods A quality improvement program with pre- and post- analyses was performed on a convenience sample of infants < 12-months old utilizing a crib audit tool on two general pediatric inpatient units. The crib audit tool was used before and after the safe sleep program intervention. It recorded the infant’s sleep position, location during sleep, and sleep environment. Interventions included: 1) nursing education, 2) crib cards with a checklist of the ABC’s of safe sleep provided for the cribs of hospitalized infants, and 3) tracking boards to report weekly measured compliance with the ABCs. Chi square analysis was used to compare adherence to recommendations before and after program implementation. Results There were 62 cribs included pre-intervention and 90 cribs post-intervention. Overall, there was no significant change in safe sleep positioning (81% to 82%, p = 0.97). There was a significant increase in adherence to the safe sleep environment recommendation (3% to 38%, p < 0.01). Overall safe sleep, including both position and environment, referred to as ABC compliance, improved from 3% pre-intervention to 34% post-intervention ( p < 0.01). Only 18% of cribs audited displayed a crib card, demonstrating poor compliance on placement of the cards. There was no significant difference in compliance with safe sleep recommendations between infants with a crib card compared to those without (25% vs. 37%, p = 0.51). Conclusions Significant improvements were made in sleep environments and overall safe sleep compliance after introduction of crib cards and tracking boards. Most likely the crib auditing process itself and the tracking boards had a larger impact than the crib cards.

Objective To identify types of containers from which young children accessed solid dose medications (SDMs) during unsupervised medication exposures and the intended recipients of the medications to advance prevention. Study design From February to September 2017, 5 US poison centers enrolled individuals calling about unsupervised solid dose medication exposures by children £5 years. Study participants answered contextually directed questions about exposure circumstances. Results Sixty-two percent of eligible callers participated. Among 4496 participants, 71.6% of SDM exposures involved children aged £2 years; 33.8% involved only prescription medications, 32.8% involved only over-thecounter (OTC) products that require child-resistant packaging, and 29.9% involved ³1 OTC product that does not require child-resistant packaging. More than one-half of exposures (51.5%) involving prescription medications involved children accessing medications that had previously been removed from original packaging, compared with 20.8% of exposures involving OTC products (aOR, 3.39; 95% CI, 2.87-4.00). Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medications (49.3%) and opioids (42.6%) were often not in any container when accessed; anticonvulsants (41.1%), hypoglycemic agents (33.8%), and cardiovascular/antithrombotic agents (30.8%) were often transferred to alternate containers. Grandparents' medications were involved in 30.7% of prescription medication exposures, but only 7.8% of OTC product exposures (aOR, 3.99; 95% CI, 3.26-4.87). Conclusions Efforts to reduce pediatric SDM exposures should also address exposures in which adults, rather than children, remove medications from child-resistant packaging. Packaging/storage innovations designed to encourage adults to keep products within child-resistant packaging and specific educational messages could be targeted based on common exposure circumstances, medication classes, and medication intended recipients.