A comprehensive inner-city asthma program reduces hospital and emergency room utilization.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of a comprehensive asthma program on emergency department (ED) visits and hospital admission rates in an inner-city pediatric population.

Design: A12-month prospective randomized trial.

Methods: Three hundred asthma patients, ages 2 to 17 years, were recruited and randomized in an inner-city pediatric ED, to obtain asthma care in a specialty clinic or to continue receiving care by other health resources.

Aerosolized pentamidine for prophylaxis of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in infants with human immunodeficiency virus infection.

Aerosolized pentamidine is widely used in adult patients with human immunodeficiency virus as both prophylaxis and therapy for Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety of a monthly regimen of aerosolized pentamidine in human immunodeficiency virus-infected infants. Seven human immunodeficiency virus-infected infants, ages 3.

Heuristics in medical and non-medical decision-making.

Pairs of hypothetical medical and non-medical problems were given to 44 pediatric residents at three levels of hospital training. Each problem was designed to detect a specific heuristic-based bias in making diagnoses. Discounting, disregarding base rate, and over-confidence in contextually embedded redundant information were more evident on medical than on non-medical problems.