HOT TOPICS

TUESDAY, MAY 4, 4:45 PM - 6:45 PM

Controversies in Prehospital EMS for Children*
Chair: Gary R. Fleisher, Children’s Hospital, Boston

Each year in the United States, in the prehospital arena, hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers provide services to millions of children at a cost of billions of dollars. Most members of the medical community, as well as the lay public, assume that these dramatic interventions, accompanied by the wail of sirens and the whirl of helicopter rotors, represent part of an established continuum of medical care for the benefit of children. On closer examination, however, this particular intervention has generally not been delivered under pediatric supervision, has seldom been rigorously studied, and has often been demonstrated to have no beneficial, or even a detrimental, effect. In this session, the speakers will provide an overview of the data behind the mayhem, with specific emphasis on basic therapies: airway management, intravenous access, and cervical spine immobilization. Formal presentations will be followed by an interactive discussion. The goals of the discussion will be to: (a) establish, when sufficient information exists, which approaches are helpful and which are harmful; (b) increase the awareness among physicians of the limitations of prehospital care for children; (c) encourage involvement of pediatricians in setting policies for the treatment of children; and (4) identify areas for further investigation.

The Lack of Meaningful Research in Emergency Medical Services
Michael Callaham, University of California, San Francisco

Endotracheal Intubation of Children
Marianne Gausche, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torance

Cervical Spine Immobilization
Mark Ralston, Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth, VA

Intravenous Access and Fluid Administration
Stephen Teach, Children’s National Medical Center, Washington, DC

Controversies in Neonatology**
Chair: F. Sessions Cole, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis and William J. Keenan, St. Louis University

This session will focus on a discussion of new or evolving therapies for the newborn infant, ventilatory strategies and brain hypothermia.

4:45 pm --- Interpreting Ventilatory Strategies - Which Strategy for Which Infant?
Alan H. Jobe, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio

5:45 pm --- Moderate Hypothermia as a Treatment for Perinatal Asphyxia
David Edwards, Imperial College School of Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital, London

Controversies in Otitis Media*
Chair: Kathi J. Kemper, Center for Holistic Pediatric Education & Research, Boston

Panelists will address current controversies in the management and long-term outcome of otitis media: to treat with antibiotics or not? And does it make any difference in the long term anyway?

Acute Otitis Media Is a Treatable Infectious Disease
Jerome Klein, Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine

"To Treat or Not to Treat. That is the Question"
Mike Marcy, Kaiser Foundation Hospital, Panorama City, CA

Early-Life Otitis Media in Relation to Later Development: Preliminary Findings from the Pittsburgh Study
Jack L. Paradise, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh

* Sponsored jointly by the Pediatric Academic Societies

** Sponsored jointly by the American Pediatric Society, Society for Pediatric Research, and the American Academy of Pediatrics

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Last Modified: April 06, 2000