Simulation training based on observation with minimal participation improves paediatric emergency medicine knowledge, skills and confidence.

Objective: Simulation is becoming standard during emergency medicine (EM) training. To determine if observation-based simulation with minimal participation improves knowledge, skill performance and confidence, we created and evaluated 12 paediatric emergency medicine (PEM) simulations focusing on the educational value of observation.

Methods: Thirty-one EM residents participated in 1-2 simulations each and observed multiple others.

Using video discharge instructions as an adjunct to standard written instructions improved caregivers' understanding of their child's emergency department visit, plan, and follow-up: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: Previous studies demonstrate that patients often have difficulty understanding their discharge instructions. Video discharge instructions have the potential to mitigate factors such as illiteracy and limited physician time, which may affect comprehension. Our goal is to determine if adding video discharge instructions affects caregivers' understanding of their child's emergency department (ED) visit, plan, and follow-up.

Weakness and the inability to ambulate in a 14-month-old female: a case report and concise review of guillain-barre syndrome.

Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is an acquired disease of the peripheral nervous system which causes demyelination and leads to weakness, ataxia, and areflexia. There are a variety of forms of the syndrome, and although it is found in all age groups, it is rare in children less than two years of age. The present complaint of weakness, ataxia, or lower extremity pain in the pediatric population should cause the practitioner to consider GBS in the differential.

A porcine training model for ultrasound diagnosis of pneumothoraces.

Background: Ultrasound for the evaluation of pneumothoraces has been extensively studied. Several medical specialties have recognized the benefit of this technique; however, a training model has not been established.

Objective: Using a porcine model, we attempt to establish a model for the training of ultrasound diagnosis of pneumothoraces.

Can near-infrared spectroscopy identify the severity of shock in trauma patients?

Background: Our recent experimental study showed that peripheral muscle tissue oxygen saturation (StO2), determined noninvasively by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), was more reliable than systemic hemodynamics or invasive oxygenation variables as an index of traumatic shock. The purpose of this study was to establish the normal range of thenar muscle StO2 in humans and the relationship between shock state and StO2 in trauma patients.

Methods: This was a prospective, nonrandomized, observational, descriptive study in normal human volunteers (n = 707) and patients admitted to the resuscitation area of our Level I trauma center (n = 150).