Performance of International Medical Graduates in Pediatric Residency: A Study of Peer and Faculty Perceptions.

Background: International medical graduates (IMGs) constitute approximately 25% of the US pediatric workforce. Their recruitment into US residency training raises concerns regarding their competence, although this has not been formally studied. Cincinnati Children's Hospital has systematically recruited IMGs over the past 16 years.

An International Survey of Corticosteroid Use for the Management of Low Cardiac Output Syndrome.

Objective: Limited evidence exists on use of corticosteroids in low cardiac output syndrome following cardiac surgery. We sought to determine physicians' practices and beliefs with regard to corticosteroids therapy for low cardiac output syndrome.

Design: Multinational internet-based survey.

A Survey Assessment of Perceived Importance and Methods of Maintenance of Critical Procedural Skills in Pediatric Emergency Medicine.

Objective: The aim of this study was to delineate pediatric emergency medicine provider opinions regarding the importance of, and to ascertain existing processes by which practitioners maintain, the following critical procedural skills: oral endotracheal intubation, intraosseous line placement, pharmacologic and electrical cardioversion, tube thoracostomy, and defibrillation.

Methods: A customized survey was administered to all members of the Listserv for the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Emergency Medicine. Perceived importance of maintaining critical pediatric procedural skills was measured using a 5-point Likert-type scale.

Do Adolescents With Higher Knowledge of HIV Have Lower Sexual Risk Behaviors?

Objectives: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States, and adolescents account for a disproportionate number of new cases. We aimed to assess knowledge of HIV in relation to sexual risk behaviors among adolescents seeking care in our pediatric emergency department and to assess sources of HIV knowledge among this population.

Methods: Adolescents aged 14 to 21 years who presented to the pediatric emergency department participated in a questionnaire assessing HIV knowledge, sexual risk behaviors, and sources of HIV knowledge.

Family-Centered Pediatric Emergency Care: A Framework for Measuring What Parents Want and Value.

Objective: To identify and describe dimensions of family-centered care important to parents in pediatric emergency care and compare them to those currently defined in the literature.

Methods: A qualitative study was conducted involving 8 focus groups with parents who accompanied their child to an emergency department visit at a large tertiary-care pediatric health system. Participants were identified using purposive sampling to achieve representation across demographic characteristics including child's race, insurance status, severity, and participant's relationship to child.

Defining the Simulation Technician Role: Results of a Survey-Based Study.

Introduction: In health care simulation, simulation technicians perform multiple tasks to support various educational offerings. Technician responsibilities and the tasks that accompany them seem to vary between centers. The objectives were to identify the range and frequency of tasks that technicians perform and to determine if there is a correspondence between what technicians do and what they feel their responsibilities should be.

Evaluation of regional hospitals' use of children in disaster drills.

Objective: Describe the prevalence of pediatric casualties in disaster drills by community hospitals and determine if there is an association between the use of pediatric casualties in disaster drills and the proximity of a community hospital to a tertiary children's hospital.

Design: Survey, descriptive study.

Setting: Tertiary children's hospital and surrounding community hospitals.

Injury prevention in the emergency department: a caregiver's perspective.

Background: Emergency medicine physicians and their staff care for high-risk injured patients, making the emergency department (ED) an appropriate place to discuss injury prevention (IP).

Objective: To determine family receptiveness to and short-term effectiveness of IP information delivery during an ED visit.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in an urban pediatric ED.