Background: Ongoing masking of K-12 children has not been universally accepted despite recommendation from public health authorities. In states without universal mask mandates for schools, district administrators are forced to make masking decisions under significant local political pressures. There is a call for endpoints to masking to allow communities to tailor mitigation while keeping schools safe, focusing on harm reduction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In-school transmission of COVID-19 among K-12 students is low when mitigation layers are used, but the risk of acquiring COVID-19 during school bus transportation is not well defined. Given the operational limitations of many school districts, more data is needed to determine what mitigation is required to keep COVID-19 transmission low during bus transport.
Methods: An independent school in Virginia monitored 1154 students in grades 1 to 12 with asymptomatic PCR testing every 2 weeks from August 24, 2020 to March 19, 2021, during the highest community transmission.
Background: Emergency physicians have a residency graduation milestone to effectively manage the airway and initiate mechanical ventilation. However, many emergency medicine (EM) residents report rarely or never feeling comfortable managing mechanically ventilated patients. Our goal was to determine the effectiveness of an in situ simulation program for EM residents to successfully manage a ventilator on a high-fidelity patient simulator.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA child presenting with petechiae and fever is assumed to have meningococcemia or another form of bacterial sepsis and therefore to require antibiotics, blood cultures, cerebrospinal fluid analysis and hospital admission. A review of the literature challenges this statement and suggests that a child presenting with purpura (or petechiae), an ill appearance and delayed capillary refill time or hypotension should be admitted and treated for meningococcal disease without delay. Conversely, a child with a petechial rash, which is confined to the distribution of the superior vena cava, is unlikely to have meningococcal disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To determine the feasibility of new models for reinforcing tobacco-use-cessation interventions initiated in the emergency department (ED). The authors assessed the level of motivation to quit tobacco use among a general population of ED patients; the proportion who receive tobacco-use assessments, information, and interventions from ED providers; and the desired timing of tobacco-use interventions.
Methods: Face-to-face interviews with a convenience sample of 376 adult patients receiving care in the ED at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Objective: To determine the characteristics and outcomes of smokeless tobacco (ST) users receiving interventions in an outpatient tobacco-dependence treatment program.
Methods: Survey was mailed with telephone follow-up to ST users treated during a 2-year period.
Results: Nicotine replacement therapy and family and social support were the most helpful intervention components in maintaining tobacco abstinence.