The Waiting Room Assessment to Virtual Emergency Department pathway: Initiating video-based telemedicine in the pediatric emergency department.

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented pediatric emergency departments with unique challenges, resulting in a heightened demand for adapted clinical pathways. In response to this need, the Montreal Children's Hospital pediatric emergency department introduced the WAVE (Waiting Room Assessment to Virtual Emergency Department) pathway, a video-based telemedicine pathway for selected non-critical patients, aiming to reduce safety issues related to emergency department overcrowding, while providing timely care to all children presenting and registering at our emergency department. The objective of the WAVE pilot phase was to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of telemedicine in our pediatric emergency department, which was previously unfamiliar with this mode of care delivery. During the six-week, three-evening per week deployment, we conducted 18 five-hour telemedicine shifts. In total, 27 patients participated in the WAVE pathway. Results from this pilot phase met four of five a priori feasibility and acceptability criteria. Overall, participating families were satisfied with this novel care pathway and reported no disruptive technological barriers.

Emergency physician performed ultrasound-assisted lumbar puncture in children: A randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Lumbar puncture (LP) is one of the most common procedures performed in pediatric emergency departments but first-attempt success rates remain low and traumatic LP remains frequent. The aim of this study was to determine if ultrasound performed by emergency physicians improves the probability of first-attempt success for lumbar puncture in children. METHODS: This was a prospective randomized controlled trial conducted in two tertiary care, pediatric, university-affiliated emergency departments in 2017-2018. Eligible participants were children younger than 19 years old requiring an LP in the emergency department. They were randomized to either the standard landmark-based LP (SLP) or ultrasound-assisted LP (UALP) groups. Our primary outcome was the first-attempt LP success rate. RESULTS: 166 patients were enrolled, with 84 in the UALP and 82 in the SLP group. A total of 23 physicians performed ultrasounds in the study. The proportion of successful first-attempt LP was higher in the ultrasound group (60/84; 68%) than for the standard procedure (52/82; 60%), but this failed to reach statistical significance (difference: 8.1%; 95% CI: -6.4 to 22.2). CONCLUSION: Our study does not support the routine use of ultrasound for performing lumbar puncture in children. Considering the minimal harm and ease of performance, ultrasound may be used as an adjunct and teaching tool in certain clinical situations.

Ocular Point-of-Care Ultrasound in the Pediatric Emergency Department.

OBJECTIVE: Point-of-care ultrasound has become an important adjunct for diagnostic assessment in pediatric emergency medicine. In this case series, we demonstrate how ocular point-of-care ultrasound is used to correctly diagnose ocular pathologies and to expedite care. METHODS/RESULTS: We present a series of cases in which the point-of-care ultrasound ocular examination proved valuable in the timely diagnosis of pathologies involving the lens, vitreous, retina, and retrobulbar segment of the eye. CONCLUSION: Point-of-care ultrasound may facilitate diagnosis in children with ocular complaints, even in young and uncooperative patients, and should be considered in children of all ages.

Novel Uses of Point-of-Care Ultrasound for Pediatric Foreign Bodies: An Emergency Department Case Series.

BACKGROUND: Foreign bodies (FBs) are a diagnostic challenge to pediatric emergency providers. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is an important adjunct to the diagnostic pathway of children with suspected FBs. CASE REPORT: This case series describes three examples of novel extended ultrasonography uses in the pediatric emergency department for the detection of FBs involving different organ systems (i.e., abdominal, esophageal, and scrotal). WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: FBs are a diagnostic challenge to pediatric emergency providers. POCUS should be recognized as an important adjunct to the diagnostic pathway of children with suspected FBs. When used thoughtfully, it can narrow the differential diagnosis, guide further confirmatory investigations, reduce cognitive burden, and tailor downstream patient care.

Nationwide survey on current management strategies of toddler's fractures.

BACKGROUND: Tibial fractures are common in children less than 3 years old. The traditional management involves immobilization in an above knee cast for both confirmed (positive x-ray) and presumed (normal x-ray) toddler's fractures. This carries health care implications and causes unnecessary burden for patients and their families. There is a paucity of literature describing the ideal immobilization strategy for this injury. OBJECTIVES: To determine: 1) the variation between Canadian emergency departments in management of toddler's fractures; 2) the variation in management between confirmed and presumed toddler's fractures; 3) the association between demographic variables and immobilization strategies. METHODS: This was an email survey of all members of the Pediatric Emergency Research Canada network. The survey consisted of 2 clinical vignettes followed by multiple-choice questions. RESULTS: Survey response rate was 73% (153/211). For confirmed toddler's fractures, 39% of physicians chose to immobilize with above knee circumferential cast, 27% with below knee circumferential cast and 20% with below knee splint. For presumed toddler's fractures, 44% of respondents chose to manage without casting, 22% with below knee splint and 14% with above knee circumferential cast. There was significant practice variation between Canadian pediatric emergency departments for both types of fractures and between the management of confirmed and presumed toddler's fractures. CONCLUSIONS: Our study is the first to identify nationwide variation in the management of toddler's fractures. This variation highlights the need for future research to compare the different management strategies to determine families' preferences and functional outcomes in children with these injuries.

Frequent users of the pediatric emergency department.

OBJECTIVES: Emergency department (ED) crowding is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Its etiology is multifactorial, and frequent ED use (defined as more or equal to five visits per year) is a major contributor to high patient volumes. Our primary objective is to characterize the frequent user population. Our secondary objective is to examine risk factors for frequent emergency use. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of pediatric emergency department (PED) visits at the Montreal Children's Hospital using the Système Informatique Urgence (SIURGE), electronic medical record database. We analysed the relation between patient's characteristics and the number of PED visits over a 1-year period following the index visit. RESULTS: Patients totalling 52,088 accounted for 94,155 visits. Of those, 2,474 (4.7%) patients had five and more recurrent visits and accounted for 16.6% (15,612 visits) of the total PED visits. Lower level of acuity at index visit (odds ratio [OR] 0.85) was associated with a lower number of recurrent visits. Lower socioeconomic status (social deprivation index OR 1.09, material deprivation index OR 1.08) was associated with a higher number of recurrent visits. Asthma (OR 1.57); infectious ear, nose, and sinus disorders (OR 1.33); and other respiratory disorders (OR 1.56) were independently associated with a higher incidence of a recurrent visit within the year following the first visit. CONCLUSION: Our study is the first Canadian study to assess risk factors of frequent pediatric emergency use. The identified risk factors and diagnoses highlight the need for future evidence-based, targeted innovative research evaluating strategies to minimize ED crowding, to improve health outcomes and to improve patient satisfaction.

Urachal Cyst Diagnosed by Point-of-care Ultrasound.

Irreducible umbilical swelling in infants is considered a surgical emergency because a delay in surgical intervention for an incarcerated umbilical hernia can lead to bowel ischemia and necrosis. We report two patients who presented to a pediatric emergency department with history and symptoms of irreducible umbilical mass suggestive of umbilical hernia. Point-of-care ultrasound was used at the bedside to demonstrate the presence of urachal cyst remnants and accurately guided the care of these children.

Systematic review and need assessment of pediatric trauma outcome benchmarking tools for low-resource settings.

INTRODUCTION: Trauma is a leading cause of mortality and disability in children worldwide. The World Health Organization reports that 95% of all childhood injury deaths occur in Low-Middle-Income Countries (LMIC). Injury scores have been developed to facilitate risk stratification, clinical decision making, and research. Trauma registries in LMIC depend on adapted trauma scores that do not rely on investigations that require unavailable material or human resources. We sought to review and assess the existing trauma scores used in pediatric patients. Our objective is to determine their wideness of use, validity, setting of use, outcome measures, and criticisms. We believe that there is a need for an adapted trauma score developed specifically for pediatric patients in low-resource settings. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A systematic review of the literature was conducted to identify and compare existing injury scores used in pediatric patients. We constructed a search strategy in collaboration with a senior hospital librarian. Multiple databases were searched, including Embase, Medline, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Articles were selected based on predefined inclusion criteria by two reviewers and underwent qualitative analysis. RESULTS: The scores identified are suboptimal for use in pediatric patients in low-resource settings due to various factors, including reliance on precise anatomic diagnosis, physiologic parameters maladapted to pediatric patients, or laboratory data with inconsistent accessibility in LMIC. CONCLUSION: An important gap exists in our ability to simply and reliably estimate injury severity in pediatric patients and predict their associated probability of outcomes in settings, where resources are limited. An ideal score should be easy to calculate using point-of-care data that are readily available in LMIC, and can be easily adapted to the specific physiologic variations of different age groups.

Effect of autoimmunity risk loci on the honeymoon phase in type 1 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the correlation between duration and depth of honeymoon phase in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) and autoimmunity risk loci. METHODS: From a database of 567 individuals with clinical data, we selected 210 patients for whom we had dense genotyping results of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from our previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) or targeted genotyping data. Using PLINK software, we analyzed the association between time spent in honeymoon phase as our quantitative trait, and 24 known autoimmunity predisposing SNPs. RESULTS: We found one allele on chromosome 5, rs4613763 mapping to a Prostaglandin Receptor EP4 (PTGER4) to reach statistical significance (P = .0067), in determining a larger proportion of T1DM patients with a detectable honeymoon phase. This polymorphism determines risk for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) but not T1DM. CONCLUSION: By showing the role of PTGER4 in autoimmune diseases and its effect on inflammatory responses via its interaction with NF-kB, we hypothesize that PTGER4 modulates honeymoon phase in patients with T1DM without influencing the risk of developing T1DM. We hypothesize that this quantitative trait locus promotes inflammatory suppression of beta cells without directly promoting beta-cell destruction. Understanding SNPs that effect function can provide insight in to pathogenesis of T1DM and the mechanism of the honeymoon phase. Because this is a hypothesis-generating study, it needs to be replicated in an additional larger cohort.

Paediatric abdominal tuberculosis in developed countries: case series and literature review.

OBJECTIVE: To provide an insight into the presentation, diagnosis and management of paediatric abdominal tuberculosis (TB) in developed countries. METHODS: The records of all children at the Montreal Children's Hospital (MCH) admitted with abdominal TB between 1990 and 2014 were reviewed. An automated and manual literature search from 1946 to 2014 was performed. RESULTS: (1) CASE SERIES: six cases were identified at the MCH. All were male between 5 and 17 years of age. All were from populations known to have high rates of TB (aboriginal, immigrant). Three underwent major surgical interventions and three underwent ultrasound (US) or CT aspiration or biopsy for diagnosis. (2) LITERATURE REVIEW: 29 male (64%) and 16 female subjects (36%) aged between 14 months and 18 years were identified, including the MCH patients. All patients except one were from populations with a high incidence of TB. Most presented with a positive tuberculin skin test (90%), abdominal pain (76%), fever (71%) and weight loss (68%). On imaging, 22 (49%) were classified with gastrointestinal TB with colonic wall irregularity (41%) and 19 (42%) with peritoneal TB with ascites (68%). A positive culture was obtained in 33 (73%) patients. Three cases used CT- or US-guided aspiration or biopsy to obtain tissue samples. A surgical intervention was performed in 34 (76%) children; 13 (38%) of these were for diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Diagnosis based on clinical features (abdominal pain, fever and weight loss) and CT- or US-guided aspiration or biopsy may encourage physicians to adopt a more conservative approach to abdominal TB.

Extent, risk factors, and outcome of fluid overload after pediatric heart surgery*.

OBJECTIVES: Fluid overload is associated with poor PICU outcomes in different populations. Little is known about fluid overload in children undergoing cardiac surgery. We described fluid overload after cardiac surgery, identified risk factors of worse fluid overload and also determined if fluid overload predicts longer length of PICU stay, prolonged mechanical ventilation (length of ventilation) and worse lung function as estimated by the oxygenation index. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Montreal Children's Hospital PICU, Montreal, Canada. PATIENTS: Patients 18 years or younger undergoing cardiac surgery (2005-2007). INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Cumulative fluid overload % was calculated as [(total fluid in - out in L)/admission weight (kg) × 100] and expressed as PICU peak cumulative fluid overload % throughout admission and PICU day 2 cumulative fluid overload %. Primary outcomes were length of stay and length of ventilation. The secondary outcome was oxygenation index. Fluid overload risk factors were evaluated using stepwise linear regression. Fluid overload-outcome relations were evaluated using stepwise Cox regression (length of stay, length of ventilation) and generalized estimating equations (daily PICU cumulative fluid overload % and oxygenation index repeated measures). There were 193 eligible surgeries. Peak cumulative fluid overload % was 7.4% ± 11.2%. Fluid overload peaked on PICU day 2. Lack of past cardiac surgery (p = 0.04), cyanotic heart disease (p = 0.03), and early postoperative fluids (p = 0.0001) was independently associated with higher day 2 fluid overload %. Day 2 fluid overload % predicted longer length of stay (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.92-0.99; p = 0.009) and length of ventilation (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.94-0.99; p = 0.03). In patients without cyanotic heart disease, worse daily fluid overload % predicted worse daily oxygenation index. CONCLUSION: Fluid overload occurs early after cardiac surgery and is associated with prolonged PICU length of stay and ventilation. Future fluid overload avoidance trials may confirm or refute a true fluid overload-outcome causative association.

The effect of type 2 diabetes risk loci on insulin requirements in type 1 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the correlation between insulin requirements of type 1 diabetic (T1D) patients and genotype at type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk loci, obtained in our genome-wide association study. METHODS: From a database of detailed insulin dosing of 567 patients, we selected 177 for whom we also had genome-wide genotyping data. Using PLINK software, we examined the association between insulin requirement as a quantitative trait and nineteen T2D risk loci. RESULTS: Out of 19 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs13266634 on chromosome 8 and rs7901695 on chromosome 10 showed nominal significance of association (p < 0.05). The first SNP is nonsynonymous (325 Arg>Trp) and maps to the SLC30A8 gene encoding the ß-cell-specific ZnT8 zinc transporter, while the second is an intronic SNP in TCF7L2, the strongest known T2D association. Both loci exert their effect on ß-cells and, in both, the T2D risk allele is associated with lower insulin requirements. CONCLUSION: We identified two T2D susceptibility loci that modulate insulin requirements in T1D patients. Our results are consistent with the association of lower insulin secretion with higher insulin sensitivity. To explain the continuation of this correlation after ß-cell destruction, we hypothesize an epigenetic mechanism that alters insulin responsiveness in T1D patients based on ß-cell function in early life. Such knowledge may allow a more precise approach to treatment.