Publications by authors named "Aaron L Thatcher"

Objective: Determine whether rurality or public insurance status is associated with greater 30-day readmission after tracheostomy in pediatric patients.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort.

Setting: Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) Database.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Quality feedback is critical to facilitate better performance and quicker learning. However, faculty may be hesitant to provide quality constructive feedback, especially in written form, due to fear of retaliation. We evaluated the impact of faculty anonymity on the quality of faculty-to-resident feedback.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Careful airway risk assessment and procedural planning are vital to ensure patients' safety during airway management. Patients with known procedural difficulty during previous airway management or new anatomical changes pose challenges and risks. To improve communication and the value of documented information regarding difficult airway management for future clinical encounters, we utilized existing electronic health record functions to develop a "difficult airway Navigator.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To determine the value of pre-decannulation capped overnight ICU monitoring for assessing decannulation-readiness in pediatric patients.

Methods: This study included all pediatric patients, age 18 and under, with a tracheostomy attempting decannulation at the University of Michigan between 2013 and 2018. Patients who underwent major airway reconstruction immediately prior to decannulation were excluded.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To examine whether a service guideline reducing postoperative opioid prescription quantities and caregiver-reported education to use nonopioid analgesics first are associated with caregiver-reported pain control after pediatric tonsillectomy.

Study Design: Prospective cohort study (July 2018-April 2019).

Setting: Pediatric otolaryngology service at a tertiary academic children's hospital.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Importance: The use of intralesional cidofovir injections for recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) remains controversial owing to concern regarding the risks of its use, including increased risk of dysplasia or carcinogenesis.

Objective: To describe the rates of dysplasia, development of malignant lesions, and adverse events associated with use of intralesional cidofovir injections as adjuvant treatment for RRP compared with patients treated without adjuvant cidofovir.

Design, Setting, And Participants: In this case series performed at a tertiary care referral center, review of electronic medical records on all adult and pediatric patients (N = 154) treated for RRP with adequate follow-up from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2016, was performed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Importance: Practice guidelines recommend nonopioid medications in children after tonsillectomy, but to date, studies have not used recent national data to assess perioperative opioid prescribing patterns or the factors associated with these patterns in this population. Closing this knowledge gap may help in assessing whether such prescribing and prescription duration could be safely reduced.

Objective: To assess national perioperative opioid prescribing patterns, clinical and demographic factors associated with these patterns, and association between these patterns and complications in children after tonsillectomy compared with children not using opioids.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: Surgical repair of persistent tracheocutaneous fistula in children may be complicated by tracheal air leak with resultant subcutaneous emphysema, pneumomediastinum, and/or pneumothorax. We first sought to identify clinical risk factors for postoperative complications after primary repair of persistent tracheocutaneous fistula in children. Second, the type and frequency of complications in patients administered positive airway pressure ventilation (e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives (1) Compare efficacy of primary medical therapy vs primary surgical intervention in patients with esophageal foreign bodies (EFBs). (2) Investigate variables that may predict successful outcomes in patients treated for EFBs. Study Design Case series with chart review.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: To evaluate whether monothermal caloric screening can reduce the number of caloric irrigations required in the vestibular testing battery while maintaining diagnostic accuracy.

Design: Prospective controlled cohort study. Three hundred and ninety patients referred for vestibular testing at this tertiary referral health system over a 1-year period were evaluated; 24 patients met exclusion or failure criteria and 366 patients were included in the study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Chylothorax is a rare complication of surgical neck dissection. This is the first reported pediatric case of bilateral chylothorax following cervical surgery and the first to occur after tracheoplasty. Chylothorax can lead to significant complications, including hypoxemia and shock, and requires timely treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF