A Case Report for Severe COVID-19 in a 9-Year-Old Child Treated with Remdesivir and Dexamethasone

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is generally milder in children than in adults, and a substantial proportion of children with the disease have asymptomatic infections.Remdesivir is recommended for severe COVID-19. To date, there are little data on the outcomes of remdesivir treatment in children. We report a case of severe COVID-19 in a previously healthy but obese (body mass index, 27.6; 99.8 th percentile of the age) 9-year-old boy treated with remdesivir and dexamethasone. The patient had pneumonia at the time of diagnosis and required supplemental oxygen due to hypoxia one day after diagnosis. The patient developed respiratory distress as his pneumonia progressed rapidly. Therefore, remdesivir with dexamethasone therapy was initiated on hospital day 2. Supplemental oxygen was gradually weaned on hospital day 6 and stopped on hospital day 9. Significant improvement in pneumonic consolidations on chest X-ray was noted on hospital day 8. The patient was discharged on hospital day 21. We did not observe any adverse effects of remdesivir therapy and successfully treated a 9-year-old child with severe COVID-19.

Pediatric and Parents' Attitudes Towards COVID-19 Vaccines and Intention to Vaccinate for Children

Background@#Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination is necessary to reach herd immunity and essential for mitigating the spread of the pandemic. In May 2021, the US FDA and the EU have expanded the emergency use authorization for a COVID-19 vaccine to children aged 12 to 15. The aim of this study was to investigate parental acceptability of COVID-19 vaccination for their children, factors affecting their acceptability, and children's perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines in Republic of Korea. @*Methods@#We conducted a questionnaire survey at two tertiary hospitals from May 25, 2021 to June 3, 2021. Subjects were parents having children under 18 years and children aged 10–18 years. @*Results@#Two hundred twenty-six parents and 117 children aged 10–18 years were included in the final analysis. Overall, 76.5% and 64.2% of parents intended to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and intended to have their children vaccinated, respectively. However, only 49.6% of children responded that they would get COVID-19 vaccination. In the multivariate analysis, high confidence in the safety of COVID-19 vaccines (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 4.87; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.32–24.12), parents' willingness to vaccinate themselves (AOR, 19.42; 95% CI, 6.85–64.00), and awareness of the need to vaccinate children against COVID-19 (AOR, 13.15; 95% CI, 4.77–41.27) were associated with positive factors intention to vaccinate their children. @*Conclusion@#This study provides insight into how parents think about the COVID-19 vaccine for their children in South Korea. Our findings could be referenced in establishing a policy for childhood COVID-19 vaccination in the future.

A Case Report for Severe COVID-19 in a 9-Year-Old Child Treated with Remdesivir and Dexamethasone

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is generally milder in children than in adults, and a substantial proportion of children with the disease have asymptomatic infections.Remdesivir is recommended for severe COVID-19. To date, there are little data on the outcomes of remdesivir treatment in children. We report a case of severe COVID-19 in a previously healthy but obese (body mass index, 27.6; 99.8 th percentile of the age) 9-year-old boy treated with remdesivir and dexamethasone. The patient had pneumonia at the time of diagnosis and required supplemental oxygen due to hypoxia one day after diagnosis. The patient developed respiratory distress as his pneumonia progressed rapidly. Therefore, remdesivir with dexamethasone therapy was initiated on hospital day 2. Supplemental oxygen was gradually weaned on hospital day 6 and stopped on hospital day 9. Significant improvement in pneumonic consolidations on chest X-ray was noted on hospital day 8. The patient was discharged on hospital day 21. We did not observe any adverse effects of remdesivir therapy and successfully treated a 9-year-old child with severe COVID-19.

Pediatric and Parents' Attitudes Towards COVID-19 Vaccines and Intention to Vaccinate for Children

Background@#Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination is necessary to reach herd immunity and essential for mitigating the spread of the pandemic. In May 2021, the US FDA and the EU have expanded the emergency use authorization for a COVID-19 vaccine to children aged 12 to 15. The aim of this study was to investigate parental acceptability of COVID-19 vaccination for their children, factors affecting their acceptability, and children's perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines in Republic of Korea. @*Methods@#We conducted a questionnaire survey at two tertiary hospitals from May 25, 2021 to June 3, 2021. Subjects were parents having children under 18 years and children aged 10–18 years. @*Results@#Two hundred twenty-six parents and 117 children aged 10–18 years were included in the final analysis. Overall, 76.5% and 64.2% of parents intended to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and intended to have their children vaccinated, respectively. However, only 49.6% of children responded that they would get COVID-19 vaccination. In the multivariate analysis, high confidence in the safety of COVID-19 vaccines (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 4.87; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.32–24.12), parents' willingness to vaccinate themselves (AOR, 19.42; 95% CI, 6.85–64.00), and awareness of the need to vaccinate children against COVID-19 (AOR, 13.15; 95% CI, 4.77–41.27) were associated with positive factors intention to vaccinate their children. @*Conclusion@#This study provides insight into how parents think about the COVID-19 vaccine for their children in South Korea. Our findings could be referenced in establishing a policy for childhood COVID-19 vaccination in the future.

A Comparative Study of the Importance and Satisfaction of Emergency Room Patient-nurse Communication Needs / 의료커뮤니케이션

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to identify and compare perception of importance and satisfaction regarding communication needs among patients and nurses in emergency centers.METHODS: This study used a cross sectional design and included 64 of patients and 37 of nurses in emergency centers of university hospitals located in Daejeon. Data were collected with a self-administered questionnaire between April 2017 and June in 2017. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics.RESULTS: Regarding importance of communication needs, both groups of the patients and the nurses significantly recognized the importance of providing information such as performed tests and treatments and visiting time of charged physicians. Meanwhile, emotional supports and concern about social or cultural needs was recognized as less important communication needs among the patients and nurses. Regarding satisfaction of communication needs, patients were less satisfied with the needs they regarded as the most important and nurses showed moderate levels of satisfaction. This indicates that patients and nurses differ in the standards and expectations for communication performance.CONCLUSION: It is important that emergency room nurses should recognize the current situation in which the patients' desired communication needs are not being met and they should start to focus improvement effort and new directions of emergency room care systems to meet the communication needs.

Preoperative anxiety and propofol requirement in conscious sedation for ovum retrieval.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the correlation among the trial number of in vitro fertilization (IVF), preoperative anxiety, and propofol requirement for conscious sedation. One hundred and twenty six Korean women undergoing oocyte retrieval were enrolled. The target-controlled infusion by the anesthesiologist was conducted with initial target propofol concentration of 2.5 microg/mL, which was manipulated until the sedation score 3 and desired clinical end point were achieved. A weak correlation was observed between visual analogue scale (VAS) anxiety and the dose of propofol required for the induction of conscious sedation (r=0.22, p=0.0192). A weak correlation was also found between VAS anxiety and the sedation time needed to reach the proper conscious sedation level for the procedure (r=0.181, p=0.0484). Multiple regression analysis showed that VAS anxiety, preoperative baseline prolactin level, and cortisol level had statistically significant effects on the propofol induction dose for target controlled conscious sedation. We concluded that the induction dose and time requirements for propofol in anesthesiologist-controlled conscious sedation be modified based on the preoperative anxiety level and the baseline blood concentration of stress hormone, cortisol and prolactin.