Case Presentation: This is a 4-year-old previously healthy girl, fully immunized with the exception of COVID-19 immunizations, who was hospitalized after presenting with fevers and fatigue for one week followed by gross hematuria. At the outset of her fevers, she tested negative for COVID-19 using a home antigen test. 4 days prior to admission, she [...]

Case Presentation: A healthy five-year-old girl was admitted from Ophthalmology Clinic for evaluation of bilateral anterior uveitis, fatigue and weight loss. History was notable for a cat scratch to the right eye one month prior which had prompted the referral to Ophthalmology Clinic. Patient also reported fatigue, night sweats, intermittent headache, poor oral intake, and [...]

Background: Nearly 6 million pediatric patients are discharged from the hospital yearly in the United States (AHRQ 2012), and social determinants of health (SDoH) impact discharge outcomes (Nacht 2022). Effective discharge planning prevents patient readmissions (Shapiro 2021), but the literature on how best to educate pediatric trainees is limited (Key-Solle 2010, Widmer 2015). We assessed [...]

Background: The three most common childhood-onset chronic conditions for which adolescents and young adults (YA) use pediatric hospitals are congenital heart disease (CHD), cystic fibrosis (CF), and sickle cell disease (SCD). Existing studies do not establish clear clinical benefits to continued pediatric hospitalization over hospitalization at adult hospitals. We aimed to determine if if continued [...]

Background: As of March 30, 2022, the Food and Drug Administration now recommends follow up thyroid function testing (TFT) for children less than 4 years of age who have received IV iodinated contrast for imaging or procedures within 3 weeks of receiving contrast dye due to recent studies reporting subsequent thyroid dysfunction and the potential [...]

Background: At the onset of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, asthma exacerbations reportedly decreased overall, raising the question if in contrast to other viruses, SARS-CoV-2 infection does not induce asthma exacerbations1,2. Like other viruses including endemic coronaviruses, there is theoretical risk of developing bronchospasm in response to viral infection with SARS-CoV-2 for patients with a [...]

Background: Due to their widespread availability, inflammatory markers are used with increasing frequency, often concurrently, without adding any diagnostic or clinical benefit1,2. While unnecessary labs do not offer any additional benefit, they can be a significant source of physical and emotional distress to patients and their families3-5. In an era that emphasizes high-value, low-cost medical [...]

Background: The pediatric discharge education process currently struggles with a lack of standardization, miscommunication between care team members, and non-patient-centered discharge communication. These issues contribute to medical errors, increased readmissions, patient dissatisfaction, and unnecessary healthcare costs. The purpose of this study is to understand the current level of caregiver comprehension in our hospital, streamline the [...]

Case Presentation: A 12-year-old girl presented to her pediatrician with 1.5 weeks of constant, non-exertional, nighttime chest pain and dyspnea. Initial chest x-ray was negative, electrocardiogram (EKG) showed sinus tachycardia and ST changes prompting urgent referral to a cardiology clinic, where repeat EKG showed persistent sinus tachycardia, diffuse ST elevations, and reciprocal PR depression consistent [...]

Case Presentation: An 11-year-old female with history of T4 paraplegia after an MVC requiring extensive intrabdominal surgical intervention, neurogenic bowel and bladder and malnutrition presented to the ED with intractable vomiting and left shoulder pain. Acute vomiting started earlier in the day while she was being straight catheterized as per routine and continued throughout the [...]