Pregnancy Testing Rates Among Adolescent Emergency Department Patients

Few adolescent females undergo pregnancy testing in the hospital emergency department (ED), even when they complain of lower abdominal pain, or before they are exposed to radiation for tests or examinations, according to an abstract presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans.

In the abstract, "Pregnancy Testing Rates Among Adolescent Emergency Department Patients," researchers reviewed National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey data from 2000 to 2009 on female patients aged 14 to 21 who were examined in a hospital ED.

The risky behavior of child pedestrians who are struck by cars

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans highlights the risky behavior of child pedestrians who are struck by cars -- including darting into the street, crossing in the middle of the block, and crossing while using an electronic device.

For the abstract, "Risky Behaviors of Pediatric Pedestrians Who are Struck by Motor Vehicles," researchers collected data on all pedestrians who were injured by a motor vehicle and presented to a Level I trauma center in New York City between 2008 and 2011.

Of the 1,075 patients, 145 (13 percent) were under age 18. When compared with adults, children were more likely to be male (65 percent versus. 53 percent), have head injuries (82 percent versus 73 percent), and discharged without admission (70 percent versus 67 percent).

A study involving one of the nation's largest networks of pediatric practices was able to nearly halve the inappropriate use of antibiotics through quarterly monitoring and feedback of the physicians' prescribing patterns.

The research, which is being presented at IDWeek, is one of the first to look at an antimicrobial stewardship intervention in the outpatient setting.

Although efforts to cut the overuse of antibiotics have made headway in hospitals, the majority of prescriptions are written by community-based clinicians -- often for pediatric patients with common ailments. "If you really want to impact antibiotic use, you have to do it with outpatient prescribing," said lead researcher Jeffrey Gerber, MD, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "Our message is that targeting common conditions and intervening in the outpatient setting is doable."