The inconspicuous penis.

Objective: To describe the etiology and management of the group of abnormalities referred to as the inconspicuous penis.

Design: Analysis of 19 cases seen over a period of 2 years by chart review.

Setting: Children's hospital in a major metropolitan area.

National trends in pediatric resident recruitment.

Primary care residency programs throughout the nation are having increasing difficulty recruiting sufficient residents. Only 65% of pediatric residency positions are filled with medical graduates from the United States. We sent a questionnaire to pediatric residency program directors throughout the country to assess what changes pediatric programs had implemented in response to matching concerns.

Fatal fat embolism after spinal fusion for scoliosis.

An adolescent girl who underwent Harrington instrumentation and spinal fusion for idiopathic scoliosis had the adult respiratory distress syndrome develop in the immediate postoperative period. Massive fat embolization to the lungs was present at postmortem examination, an apparently rare complication of this surgical procedure. This case emphasizes the necessity of maintaining a high index of suspicion.

Intramuscular injections in children.

The most common serious complications of intramuscular injections in children are muscle contractures and nerve injury. Muscle contracture occurs most commonly after injections in the anterior and lateral thigh, and sciatic nerve injury is the most frequently reported serious complication of the gluteal area. The technique of administering intramuscular injections involves attention to the appropriate site of needle insertion, needle size, and angle of injection.