ABSTRACT. Objective. To determine the causes and preventability of child deaths; to assess the accuracy of death certificate information; and to assess the number of child abuse deaths that are misdiagnosed as deaths attributable to natural or accidental causes.Methods. Analysis of deaths of children <18 years old that occurred between 1995-1999 using the data collected by the Arizona Child Fatality Review Program (ACFRP).Results. From 1995-1999, local multidisciplinary child fatality review teams (CFRTs) have reviewed 95% of all deaths of children <18 years old in Arizona. Each team has access to the child's death certificate, autopsy report, hospital records, child protective services records, law enforcement reports, and any other relevant documents that provide insight into the cause and preventability of a child's death. After reviewing these documents, the team determines the cause of death, its preventability, and the accuracy of the death certificate. The ACFRP defines a child's death as preventable if an individual or the community could reasonably have done something that would have changed the circumstances that led to the child's death. The ACFRP determined that 29% (1416/4806) of these deaths could have been prevented, and preventability increased with the age of the child. Only 5% (81/1781) of neonatal deaths were considered preventable, whereas the deaths of 38% of all children older than 28 days were considered preventable. By 9 years of age, the majority of child deaths (56%) were considered preventable. Deaths attributable to medical conditions were far less likely to be considered preventable than deaths attributable to unintentional injuries. Although 62% of all deaths in Arizona during the 5-year period were attributable to medical conditions, only 8% (253/2983) of these deaths were considered preventable. In contrast, 91% (852/934) of the deaths attributable to unintentional injuries were considered preventable. Motor vehicle crashes accounted for 634 of the deaths resulting from injuries, and drowning accounted for 187 deaths. Motor vehicle crashes were the leading cause of death for all children in Arizona over 1 year of age. Only 18% of child passengers and 3% of adolescent drivers who died were known to be appropriately restrained. The typical drowning victim was a young child who drowned in the family's backyard pool. Indeed, 70% (131/187) of the drowning victims were <5 years old, and 62% (81/131) of these children died in a backyard pool.Supervision of the child and pool fencing could have prevented 90% of these deaths.Most deaths attributable to medical conditions occurred in the first year of life. Prematurity was the most common medical condition (1036 deaths) followed by congenital anomalies (662 deaths) and infectious diseases (470 deaths). Some of the reasons why CFRTs believed a medical death was preventable included inadequate emergency medical services, poor continuity of care, and delay in seeking care because of lack of health insurance. There were 4 deaths resulting from ...

Education can decrease medication dosing errors made by both Spanish-speaking and English-speaking parents. Effectiveness was also shown at follow-up.

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The use of telemedicine technologies by primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists, and pediatric surgical specialists (henceforth referred to as “pediatric physicians”) has the potential to transform the practice of pediatrics. The purpose of this policy statement is to describe the expected and potential impact that telemedicine will have on pediatric physicians’ efforts to improve access and physician workforce shortages. The policy statement also describes how the American Academy of Pediatrics can advocate for its members and their patients to best use telemedicine technologies to improve access to care, provide more patient- and family-centered care, increase efficiencies in practice, enhance the quality of care, and address projected shortages in the clinical workforce. As the use of telemedicine increases, it is likely to impact health care access, quality, and education and costs of care. Telemedicine technologies, applied to the medical home and its collaborating providers, have the potential to improve current models of care by increasing communication among clinicians, resulting in more efficient, higher quality, and less expensive care. Such a model can serve as a platform for providing more continuous care, linking primary and specialty care to support management of the needs of complex patients. In addition, telemedicine technologies can be used to efficiently provide pediatric physicians working in remote locations with ongoing medical education, increasing their ability to care for more complex patients in their community, reducing the burdens of travel on patients and families, and supporting the medical home. On the other hand, telemedicine technologies used for episodic care by nonmedical home providers have the potential to disrupt continuity of care and to create redundancy and imprudent use of health care resources. Fragmentation should be avoided, and telemedicine, like all primary and specialty services, should be coordinated through the medical home.