Hypercarbia in a Pediatric Patient With Relapsed Medulloblastoma.

Pediatric medulloblastoma is a common form of pediatric brain tumor and typically presents with progressive signs of increased intracranial pressure and ataxia. Relapse of the disease is most often diagnosed on surveillance imaging. We present the case of a 13-year-old boy with a previous history of medulloblastoma who presented with chronic hypercarbic respiratory failure as a symptom of a recurrent tumor.

Reporting Outcomes of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Patients to Referring Physicians via an Electronic Health Record-Based Feedback System.

Background: Many critically ill children are initially evaluated in front-line settings by clinicians with variable pediatric training before they are transferred to a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Because clinicians learn from past performance, communicating outcomes of patients back to front-line clinicians who provide pediatric emergency care could be valuable; however, referring clinicians do not consistently receive this important feedback.

Objectives: Our aim was to determine the feasibility, usability, and clinical relevance of a semiautomated electronic health record (EHR)-supported system developed at a single institution to deliver timely and relevant PICU patient outcome feedback to referring emergency department (ED) physicians.

Updates to referring clinicians regarding critically ill children admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit: a state-wide survey.

Background Front-line clinicians are expected to make accurate and timely diagnostic decisions before transferring patients to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) but may not always learn their patients' outcomes. We evaluated the characteristics of post-transfer updates received by referring clinicians regarding PICU patients and determined preferences regarding content, delivery, and timing of such updates. Methods We administered an electronic cross-sectional survey to Iowa clinicians who billed for ≥5 pediatric patients or referred ≥1 patient to the University of Iowa (UI) PICU in the year before survey administration.

Solutions to technical challenges during therapeutic plasma exchange using the Spectra Optia on a 4 kilogram neonate.

Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) on severely ill neonates poses many technical challenges, including obtaining adequate vascular access. In addition, clinical challenges such as risk of hypotension and cardiovascular instability are more pronounced in these patients. We report an approach to successfully managing these challenges while performing TPE on a 4 kilogram neonate using the Spectra Optia and 22 G venous access.