Firearm Injury Risk Prediction Among Children Transported by 9-1-1 Emergency Medical Services: A Machine Learning Analysis.

Objective: Among children transported by ambulance across the United States, we used machine learning models to develop a risk prediction tool for firearm injury using basic demographic information and home ZIP code matched to publicly available data sources.

Methods: We included children and adolescents 0-17 years transported by ambulance to acute care hospitals in 47 states from January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2022. We used 96 predictors, including basic demographic information and neighborhood measures matched to home ZIP code from 5 data sources: EMS records, American Community Survey, Child Opportunity Index, County Health Rankings, and Social Vulnerability Index.

Optimizing the Care of Pediatric Injuries in Rural Environments.

Pediatric readiness is essential to the care of children in rural areas. When pediatric specialty care is not immediately accessible, rural clinicians may be required to care for ill or injured children for extended periods of time. Having established programs for pediatric care, including validated quality and safety programs that emphasize pediatric readiness, is an essential component to caring for rural children.

State and National Estimates of the Cost of Emergency Department Pediatric Readiness and Lives Saved.

Importance: High emergency department (ED) pediatric readiness is associated with improved survival among children receiving emergency care, but state and national costs to reach high ED readiness and the resulting number of lives that may be saved are unknown.

Objective: To estimate the state and national annual costs of raising all EDs to high pediatric readiness and the resulting number of pediatric lives that may be saved each year.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study used data from EDs in 50 US states and the District of Columbia from 2012 through 2022.

Mesenteric Base Width: Abdominal Wall Diameter Correlates With Intestinal Rotational Anomalies in Infants.

Introduction: Symptomatic malrotation requires urgent Ladd procedure. Patients with incidental or indeterminate findings have historically been managed with observation or operatively. Fluoroscopic identification of the duodenojejunal junction (DJJ) and ileocecal junction (ICJ) can guide operative decision-making, but algorithms have not been validated.

Extreme Weather Injuries and Fatalities, 2006 to 2021.

Importance: Extreme weather has major implications for state and national health care systems; however, statistics examining weather-related injuries and fatalities are limited.

Objective: To examine the frequency and regional distribution of major disaster events (MDEs) in the US.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This ecologic cross-sectional study of MDEs occurring between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2021, evaluated US data on all injuries and fatalities included in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Centers for Environmental Information Storm Events Database.

Optimizing Advanced Imaging of the Pediatric Patient in the Emergency Department: Policy Statement.

Advanced imaging, including ultrasonography, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), is an integral component to the evaluation and management of ill and injured children in the emergency department. As with any test or intervention, the benefits and potential impacts on management must be weighed against the risks to ensure that high-value care is being delivered. There are important considerations specific to the pediatric patient related to the ordering and interpretation of advanced imaging.

Optimizing Advanced Imaging of the Pediatric Patient in the Emergency Department: Technical Report.

Advanced diagnostic imaging modalities, including ultrasonography, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), are key components in the evaluation and management of pediatric patients presenting to the emergency department. Advances in imaging technology have led to the availability of faster and more accurate tools to improve patient care. Notwithstanding these advances, it is important for physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners to understand the risks and limitations associated with advanced imaging in children and to limit imaging studies that are considered low value, when possible.

Optimizing Advanced Imaging of the Pediatric Patient in the Emergency Department: Policy Statement.

Advanced imaging, including ultrasonography, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), is an integral component to the evaluation and management of ill and injured children in the emergency department. As with any test or intervention, the benefits and potential impacts on management must be weighed against the risks to ensure that high-value care is being delivered. There are important considerations specific to the pediatric patient related to the ordering and interpretation of advanced imaging.

Optimizing Advanced Imaging of the Pediatric Patient in the Emergency Department: Technical Report.

Advanced diagnostic imaging modalities, including ultrasonography, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging, are key components in the evaluation and management of pediatric patients presenting to the emergency department. Advances in imaging technology have led to the availability of faster and more accurate tools to improve patient care. Notwithstanding these advances, it is important for physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners to understand the risks and limitations associated with advanced imaging in children and to limit imaging studies that are considered low value, when possible.

Optimizing Advanced Imaging of the Pediatric Patient in the Emergency Department: Policy Statement.

Advanced imaging, including ultrasonography, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging, is an integral component to the evaluation and management of ill and injured children in the emergency department. As with any test or intervention, the benefits and potential impacts on management must be weighed against the risks to ensure that high-value care is being delivered. There are important considerations specific to the pediatric patient related to the ordering and interpretation of advanced imaging.

Disaster planning for a surgical surge: when mass trauma threatens to overwhelm your operating rooms.

Mass casualty events particularly those requiring multiple simultaneous operating rooms are of increasing concern. Existing literature predominantly focuses on mass casualty care in the emergency department. Hospital disaster plans should include a component focused on preparing for multiple simultaneous operations.

Relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and structural inequalities within the pediatric trauma population.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted social, political, and economic life across the world, shining a light on the vulnerability of many communities. The objective of this study was to assess injury patterns before and after implementation of stay-at-home orders (SHOs) between White children and children of color and across varying levels of vulnerability based upon children's home residence.

Methods: A multi-institutional retrospective study was conducted evaluating patients < 18 years with traumatic injuries.

Setting an agenda for a national pediatric trauma system: Operationalization of the Pediatric Trauma State Assessment Score.

Pediatric trauma system development is essential to public health infrastructure and pediatric health systems. Currently, trauma systems are managed at the state level, with significant variation in consideration of pediatric needs. A recently developed Pediatric Trauma System Assessment Score (PTSAS) demonstrated that states with lower PTSAS have increased pediatric mortality from trauma.

Reducing Unnecessary Oophorectomies for Benign Ovarian Neoplasms in Pediatric Patients.

Importance: Although most ovarian masses in children and adolescents are benign, many are managed with oophorectomy, which may be unnecessary and can have lifelong negative effects on health.

Objective: To evaluate the ability of a consensus-based preoperative risk stratification algorithm to discriminate between benign and malignant ovarian pathology and decrease unnecessary oophorectomies.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Pre/post interventional study of a risk stratification algorithm in patients aged 6 to 21 years undergoing surgery for an ovarian mass in an inpatient setting in 11 children's hospitals in the United States between August 2018 and January 2021, with 1-year follow-up.

Pediatric Cervical Spine Injury Following Blunt Trauma in Children Younger Than 3 Years: The PEDSPINE II Study.

Importance: There is variability in practice and imaging usage to diagnose cervical spine injury (CSI) following blunt trauma in pediatric patients.

Objective: To develop a prediction model to guide imaging usage and to identify trends in imaging and to evaluate the PEDSPINE model.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study included pediatric patients (<3 years years) following blunt trauma between January 2007 and July 2017.

Association of Transport Time, Proximity, and Emergency Department Pediatric Readiness With Pediatric Survival at US Trauma Centers.

Importance: Emergency department (ED) pediatric readiness is associated with improved survival among children. However, the association between geographic access to high-readiness EDs in US trauma centers and mortality is unclear.

Objective: To evaluate the association between the proximity of injury location to receiving trauma centers, including the level of ED pediatric readiness, and mortality among injured children.

Children's surgery verification and value-based care in pediatric surgery.

With the prevailing focus on increasing value in healthcare, understanding the different components of the value equation is of primary importance. Michael E. Porter's writings on the value agenda and the use of integrated practice units (IPUs) have provided easy correlation to adult disease entities with large populations sharing common pathways and providers in the diagnosis and care of these patients.

Evolution of the American College of Surgeons Children's Surgery Verification Program: Implications for optimizing multidisciplinary surgical care of the pediatric patient.

The Children's Surgery Verification Program of the American College of Surgeons began in 2016 based on the standards created by the Task Force for Children's Surgery. This program seeks to improve the surgical care of children by assuring the appropriate resources and robust performance improvement programs at participating centers. Three levels of centers with defined scopes of practice and matching resources are defined.

Prehospital and emergency department pediatric readiness for injured children: A statement from the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma Emergency Medical Services Committee.

Injury is the leading cause of death in children older than 1 year, and children make up 22% of the population. Pediatric readiness (PR) of the nation's emergency departments and state trauma and emergency medical services (EMS) systems is conceptually important and vital to mitigate mortality and morbidity in this population. The extension of PR to the trauma community has become a focused area for training, staffing, education, and equipment at all levels of trauma center designation, and there is evidence that a higher level of emergency department PR is independently associated with long-term survival among injured children.

Evaluating the Regional Differences in Pediatric Injury Patterns During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Introduction: Reports of pediatric injury patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic are conflicting and lack the granularity to explore differences across regions. We hypothesized there would be considerable variation in injury patterns across pediatric trauma centers in the United States.

Materials And Methods: A multicenter, retrospective study evaluating patients <18 y old with traumatic injuries meeting National Trauma Data Bank criteria was performed.