A pediatric residency research requirement to improve collaborative resident and faculty publication productivity.

Involvement in a research project can teach training physicians about the scientific process involved in medicine. For this reason, the University of Hawai'i pediatrics department developed a Residency Research Requirement and Program (RRRP) in 2001. We studied a 14-year time period before and after the RRRP was initiated, and found a greater then ten-fold increase in resident publications and faculty involvement in these projects. Many of these manuscripts were the result of resident collaboration and this also increased significantly. The residents who later went into fellowship training were found to be more likely to publish their work. An RRRP encourages residents and faculty to become involved in research publications and other scholarly activities. Its development may help to motivate training physicians to learn important research skills.

Are femoral Broviac catheters effective and safe? A prospective comparison of femoral and jugular venous broviac catheters in newborn infants.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Patients with femoral venous catheters are commonly believed to be at higher risk of infectious complications as compared to patients with jugular catheters. Although reports have suggested that femoral venous Broviac catheters (Davol; Cranston, RI) are safe, no comparisons with jugular catheters were presented. Thus, we compared our efficacy and complications of femoral and jugular venous Broviac catheters in newborns. METHODS: We prospectively recorded demographic data, cannulation requirements, duration of catheter use, and complications. SETTING: Special-care nursery. PATIENTS: Newborns. INTERVENTIONS: Insertion of tunneled single-lumen Broviac catheters into vessels of the femoral triangle or the internal jugular, external jugular, or facial veins by surgical cutdown. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Sixty infants had 2,503 catheter-days with 111 catheters. Twenty-six infants had 47 femoral catheters, and 34 infants had 64 jugular catheters. All insertion attempts were successful. The median durations of catheter use were 24.0 days and 17.0 days for femoral and jugular catheters, respectively (p = 0.021). Group characteristics, insertion variables, incidences of complications, and deaths were not significantly different between groups. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that compared to jugular catheters, femoral venous Broviac catheters are an effective means to vascular access, with similar incidences of complications in newborn infants.