Partnering with parents to remove barriers and improve influenza immunization rates for young children.

Background: Despite the ongoing public health initiatives to increase pediatric influenza immunization rates to 80%, only a few US health centers have been able to meet this goal. The suboptimal immunity to influenza poses individual and societal risks for vaccine-preventable cases of influenza and its complications.

Local Problem: At a diverse, urban, family health center, its influenza immunization rate of 44% represented the lowest uptake rate compared with all other early childhood vaccines, increasing the risk of morbidity and mortality in young children, including hospitalization and death.

5-4-3-2-1 go! Coordinating pediatric resident education and community health promotion to address the obesity epidemic in children and youth.

This study investigated the feasibility and effectiveness of training pediatric residents to conduct a brief clinic-based behavioral intervention in coordination with community dissemination of a health promotion message developed by the Consortium for Lowering Obesity in Chicago Children. A total of 113 residents completed a short (<60 minutes) online training program. Some (64) residents distributed interview contact cards to patients they saw in their continuity of care clinics after training; others (45) distributed cards before training.

Genetic red flags: clues to thinking genetically in primary care practice.

This article presents an approach to "thinking genetically" in primary care. Busy practitioners often lack the time to consider thoroughly whether their patients have an underlying genetic diagnosis. To assist the primary care clinician, a working group of the Genetics in Primary Care Faculty Development Initiative developed a simple mnemonic, Family GENES, that alerts the clinician to consider genetic causes in the differential diagnosis.

Use of a chart audit: teaching well child care to paediatric house officers.

A prospective study employing a randomly assigned control group was conducted to assess the usefulness of a chart audit in teaching paediatric residents the components of well child care. The charts of children less than 5 years of age were reviewed and compared with audit criteria. Per cent compliance scores were calculated for five categories: present history; behaviour-development; family history; past medical history; and physical assessment.

The usefulness of pulse oximetry in evaluating acutely ill asthmatics.

To examine the usefulness of pulse oximetry in determining the severity of acute asthma, the arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) of 196 acutely ill asthmatic children was measured while the children were being treated in the emergency department (ED). The measure of severity used was the disposition from the ED--discharge or hospitalization--after receiving standard ED care. The mean pretreatment SaO2 of the 172 children discharged was 96.