Clinical Practice Guideline: Maintenance Intravenous Fluids in Children.

Maintenance intravenous fluids (IVFs) are used to provide critical supportive care for children who are acutely ill. IVFs are required if sufficient fluids cannot be provided by using enteral administration for reasons such as gastrointestinal illness, respiratory compromise, neurologic impairment, a perioperative state, or being moribund from an acute or chronic illness. Despite the common use of maintenance IVFs, there is high variability in fluid prescribing practices and a lack of guidelines for fluid composition administration and electrolyte monitoring.

Pediatrics Residents' Confidence and Performance Following a Longitudinal Quality Improvement Curriculum.

Background: Quality improvement (QI) training is an integral part of residents' education. Understanding the educational value of a QI curriculum facilitates understanding of its impact.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a longitudinal QI curriculum on pediatrics residents' confidence and competence in the acquisition and application of QI knowledge and skills.

Model for improvement - Part 1: A framework for health care quality.

The Model for Improvement is a rigorous and reasonable method for busy health care practitioners to use to improve patient outcomes. The use of this model requires practice for clinicians to be comfortable, but mastery is critical to develop the necessary skills to participate in quality improvement initiatives. The future of health care in the United States depends on every practitioner delivering safe, effective, and efficient care.

Pediatric approach to hypertension.

The prevalence of pediatric hypertension (HTN) has increased over the past several decades, bringing with it increased numbers of children with hypertensive sequelae such as left ventricular hypertrophy as well as greater numbers of hypertensive adults. This growing public health concern calls for vigilant screening, diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of HTN in children. Although primary HTN has become more common in childhood and adolescence, it still should be considered a diagnosis of exclusion.