Group B streptococcal infection early onset disease controversies in prevention guidelines, and management strategies for the neonate.

Group B streptococcus (GBS) has been a major pathogen that is particularly devastating to the newborn for more than two decades. Initial guidelines were promoted by the AAP in 1992 to help deal with this organism, but these recommendations were poorly accepted and not widely used. In 1996-1997 the AAP, CDC, and ACOG created new guidelines for the management of the mother and infant at risk for GBS. Though usually in agreement, these three sets of recommendations still have some differences that may be confusing to the pediatrician. This paper looks at the acquisition, intrapartum treatment, and postnatal management of GBS, along with some of the controversies associated with the management of this disease.

Television entertainment and the US health-care debate.

Some experts on the media say that entertainment can be more successful than news at providing insights into certain institutions, medicine being a good example. US television series that feature physicians as the central characters have been immensely popular. In the early series, dating back to the 1952 debut of City Hospital, the physician was an all-powerful hero working in a sparkling centre of healing, with medicine portrayed as a resource freely available to all. The programmes began to change in the 1970s. Plots centred more around the physicians' personal problems than on the patients, but economic and health-policy issues were still rarely discussed adequately. In the end, what viewers come away with may lead them towards false expectations, and they may increasingly blame doctors for decisions that others make and enforce.

Earring aspiration and other jewelry hazards.

Jewelry wearing among very young children is increasing. Ear piercing is being practiced even in neonates. Accompanying these phenomena is the ever-present risk of ingestions and aspirations of small jewelry items, notably earring pieces. We present two cases that illustrate some of the real and potential hazards of these small jewelry pieces. Relatively safe jewelry items and specific safety measures are discussed.

Hospital and healthcare executives on TV: image problems for the profession.

While hospitals are central to the treatment of illness on network TV news and entertainment, hospital administrators are not. And, while hospitals are portrayed favorably as the physician's ultra-modern workshop, hospital administrators ironically are likely to be depicted as obstructive to the best care possible in that workplace. Tying these conclusions to other aspects of programming, this article suggests reasons for the hospital administrator's TV image, explores the contemporary dilemma that it poses, and points briefly toward a path for dealing with it.