BackgroundMicrobial water contamination after periods of heavy rainfall is well described, but its link to acute gastrointestinal illness (AGI) in children is not well known.ObjectivesWe hypothesize an association between rainfall and pediatric emergency department (ED) visits for AGI that may represent an unrecognized, endemic burden of pediatric disease in a major U.S. metropolitan area served by municipal drinking water systems.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective time series analysis of visits to the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin ED in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Daily visit totals of discharge International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision codes of gastroenteritis or diarrhea were collected along with daily rainfall totals during the study period from 2002 to 2007. We used an autoregressive moving average model, adjusting for confounding variables such as sewage release events and season, to look for an association between daily visits and rainfall after a lag of 1–7 days.ResultsA total of 17,357 AGI visits were identified (mean daily total, 7.9; range, 0–56). Any rainfall 4 days prior was significantly associated with an 11% increase in AGI visits. Expected seasonal effects were also seen, with increased AGI visits in winter months.ConclusionsWe observed a significant association between rainfall and pediatric ED visits for AGI, suggesting a waterborne component of disease transmission in this population. The observed increase in ED visits for AGI occurred in the absence of any disease outbreaks reported to public health officials in our region, suggesting that rainfall-associated illness may be underestimated. Further study is warranted to better address this association.
Children made up a small part of EMS providers' clinical practice; those encountered most frequently had respiratory distress, seizures, trauma, or an undefined assessment (i.e., "other"). EMS providers frequently encounter children with physiologic evidence of acute illness, although vital sign documentation was incomplete. Prehospital providers infrequently perform pediatric interventions. Describing EMS providers' interaction with children provides the opportunity to target improvements in pediatric prehospital treatment, training, and research.
Background Verbal prehospital reports on an injured patient’s condition are typically used by trauma centers to determine if a trauma team should be present in the emergency department prior to patient arrival (i.e., trauma team activation). Efficacy studies of trauma team activation protocols cannot be conducted without a criterion standard definition for which pediatric patients need a trauma team activation. Objective To develop a consensus-based criterion standard definition for pediatric patients who needed the highest-level trauma team activation. Methods Ten local and national experts in emergency medicine, emergency medical services, and trauma were recruited to participate in a Modified Delphi survey process. The initial survey was populated based on outcomes that had been used in previously published literature on trauma team activation. The criterion standard definition for trauma team activation was refined iteratively based on survey responses until at least 80% agreement was achieved for each criterion. Results After five voting rounds a consensus-based definition for pediatric trauma team activation was developed. Twelve criteria were identified along with a corresponding time interval in which each criterion had to occur. The criteria include receiving specific surgery types, interventional radiology, advanced airway management, thoracostomy, blood products, spinal injury, emergency cesarean section, vasopressors, burr hole or other procedure to relieve intracranial pressure, pericardiocentesis, thoracotomy, and death in the emergency department. All expert panel members voted in all 5 voting rounds, except 1 member missed rounds 1 and 2. Each criterion had greater than 80% agreement from the panel. Conclusion A criterion standard definition for the highest-level pediatric trauma team activation was developed. This criterion standard definition will advance trauma research by allowing investigators to determine the accuracy and effectiveness of highest-level pediatric trauma team activation protocols. Level of Evidence/Study type Qualitative
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