Course Descriptions
The Most Relevant and Up-to-Date Course Topics
You Want to Hear About
Whether you want to brush up on your pediatric emergency medicine skills or you want to take your dual-boarded training to the next level, the Advanced Pediatric Emergency Medicine Assembly offers a wide range of valuable content. (List includes invited faculty - faculty subject to change)
Can We Abandon the LP for Evaluation for Meningitis in Children With a Fever?
3/4 Hour
Faculty: Jeffrey R. Avner, MD
A 2-month-old presents with a fever, vomiting and UTI: Do you have to get an LP before treating? What about a 3-month-old with RSV positive bronchiolitis and a fever: Is an LP necessary as part of the emergency evaluation of this infant? How about the 12-month-old with a complex febrile seizure? This expert will discuss the recent literature on the need for LP in these patients and highlight controversies in management.
AGE: Standardizing Protocols and Examining New Treatments
3/4 Hour
Faculty: Sean M. Fox, MD
Acute gastroenteritis is a common reason for visits to the emergency department, yet significant variation in care exists resulting in sub-optimal outcomes and increased expense to patients. The speaker will briefly review a standardized and evidence-based approach to treating gastroenteritis. Evolving treatment evidence including use of oral vs. IV vs. subcutaneous rehydration, indications for effective use of ondansetron (Zofran), and use of probiotics in the ambulatory setting also will be discussed.
Behavioral Emergencies in Combative Children: Is Chemical Restraint the Answer?
1/2 Hour
Faculty: Jill M. Baren, MD, MBE, FACEP, FAAP
Considering the increased use of the ED for behavioral emergencies, one is often faced with a combative child whom the parents cannot control. Is this patient appropriate for chemical restraint if other methods fail? What is the best way to chemically restrain a child? What medications are available and what works?
Blue and Tachypneic: Congenital Heart Disease in the First Month of Life and Beyond
3/4 Hour
Faculty: Anjan Batra, MD, FACC
You are working the midnight shift when a mother rushes in with her 2-week-old infant blue and tachypneic. A differential flashes through your mind but you need to act fast. Using illustrative cases, the speaker will describe the early presentation of congenital heart disease (CHD) in children and differentiate types of CHD and the varying approaches to management. Late presenting complications of CHD repair will also be described.
Dental Injuries in Children: Latest Guidelines and Creating a Dental Kit for Your ED
3/4 Hour
Faculty: Steven Krug, MD, FAAP
Dental trauma is fairly common in the pediatric population, and the management of dental injuries depends on the nature and severity of the injuries as well as the child’s stage of dental development. As 24/7 emergency access to a pediatric dentist may be limited in many settings, emergency care providers should understand which injuries warrant on-site consultation and/or emergent referral to a dental specialist, what patient assessment data dental professionals will need when contacted, and what temporizing measures should be available in the ED.
A Dirty Bomb Had Just Exploded in a Downtown Intersection Near a School: How to Manage These Victims
1/2 Hour
Faculty: Steven Krug, MD, FAAP
This expert will describe the latest developments in disaster triage and response, followed by the emergency response to the explosion of a dirty bomb in an urban setting with both blast and radio-nuclear injuries to consider. What injuries and illnesses must be considered? What are the unique issues relative to the care of children?
Head Trauma in Kids: Impact of the PECARN Guidelines
1/2 Hour
Faculty: Nathan Kuppermann, MD, MPH, FAAP
Since the PECARN mild head injury CT guidelines have been published, two questions remain: Have they been adopted, and have they reduced the number of CT scans in children with mild head injury? The speaker will provide a brief review of the CT guidelines, introduce the audience to a CT “app”, and demonstrate how CT use has decreased.
High Flow Nasal Cannula During RSI: Does it Prevent Desaturation?
1/2 Hour
Faculty: Marianne Gausche-Hill, MD, FACEP, FAAP
High flow nasal oxygen has been shown to flush the hypopharynx with oxygen providing superior oxygenation during RSI. If so, should it be used in all pediatric patients? Are there risks to its use in selective patient populations? This expert will describe the pathophysiology of desaturation during intubation in infants and children and how to achieve maximum preoxygenation prior to RSI using high flow nasal cannula and face masks.
HIV Update for Children: New Drugs New Complications
3/4 Hour
Faculty: TBA
While public health and anti-retroviral interventions have reduced the incidence of perinatal acquired HIV in children in the US, HIV infection remains a significant threat for adults and children in developing nations. Accessible modes of global transportation have promoted increasing exposure of clinicians in low-disease prevalence nations to children from endemic areas, and uncommon infectious diseases. Advances in medical therapy for HIV infection have resulted in lower rates of secondary infections and improved life expectancy in children. These new generation medications also bring the need for knowledge regarding mode of action, drug interactions and complications.
Identifying Sports Injuries: When Can the Athlete Return to Sport?
3/4 Hour
Faculty: TBA
The ED is frequently the primary site of care for the child with sport injuries including overuse injuries such as Little Leaguer’s Elbow and Osgood-Schlatter disease. The speaker will outline common sports injuries in children and how to get children moving again after an injury. The speaker will also describe the latest recommendations for graduated return to activity for children with concussions.
iGet it: "Apps" to Make Your Shift Easier
1/2 Hour
Faculty: Joshua S. Broder, MD, FACEP
Medical applications for smart phones are releasing every day and changing the way emergency physicians access information for the care of patients. How reliable are these applications and can we use them to diagnose, determine dosing, and treatment options for our patients? The speaker will review the latest medical apps for use in pediatric emergency medicine.
Improving Performance by EDs in Care of Children in Septic Shock
3/4 Hour
Faculty: Jeffrey Starke, MD, FAAP
Improving our response to critically ill pediatric patients in septic shock through goal directed methods is vital to improving outcome. The speaker will describe several evidence-based strategies, such as a computerized triage system and implementation of a septic shock protocol, to improve performance of ED staff to pediatric patients in septic shock.
Latest Strategies and Devices to Make our ED Ouchless
3/4 Hour
Faculty: Ilene A. Claudius, MD, FACEP, FAAP
For children, a visit to the ED can be a very painful and scary experience. From blood draws and IV starts to laceration repairs or foreign body removals, children experience painful or scary procedures everyday. It’s our job to make our EDs “ouchless”! Fortunately, there are a number of strategies and devices that can do just that. The speaker will review strategies such as nursing protocols for medications at triage, devices such as a needleless lidocaine delivery systems like JTip® or distraction methods such as Buzzy® to decrease the pain of blood draw or IV insertion. Ultrasound can improve the success of bladder catheterization or IV insertion. Nebulized medications such as fentanyl or versed make intravenous access less of an issue. Nitrous oxide can be used as a universal agent for many painful procedures. Music, videos, or games through the use of an IPad or game player can also be great distracters. And lastly, simple purchases such as stickers or toys to be given out at discharge can win over even the most reluctant pediatric patient. All of these and more will be discussed during this important lecture.
My Neck Hurts: Recognizing Life-Threatening Head and Neck Infections in Children
3/4 Hour
Faculty: Jeffrey R. Avner, MD
The epidemiology and presentation of serious life-threatening head and neck infections is dynamic. The speaker will provide cases to illustrate the severe and life-threatening head and neck infections in children including Lemierre’s syndrome, retropharyngeal abscess, parapharyngeal infections, peritonsillar abscess, and orbital cellulitis.
Newborn Resuscitation 2013
3/4 Hour
Faculty: Maureen D. McCollough, MD, MPH, FACEP
A 14-year-old female presents with abdominal pain to the ED and promptly delivers a premature infant. How do you prepare to resuscitate this newborn? This expert will discuss determining viability and the latest guidelines in newborn resuscitation. Controversies such as use of oxygen in resuscitation and use of IO for IV access will be discussed.
Palliative Care in the ED: An Approach Whose Time Has Come
3/4 Hour
Faculty: Angela C. Anderson, MD, FAAP
The role of palliative care in children presenting to the emergency department has received increasing attention in the literature. Through case presentations, issues related to end-of-life decisions and palliative and hospice care in pediatric patients presenting to emergency departments will be discussed. Topics to be considered include: do not resuscitate orders in pediatric patients, use of analgesia and anxiolysis in pediatric patients at the end of life, family presence and support, and obtaining a palliative care or hospice consult in the emergency department.
PE and DVTs in Children: Not as Rare as You Think
3/4 Hour
Faculty: Jill M. Baren, MD, MBE, FACEP, FAAP
A teenage girl comes to the ED with shortness of breath. She is afebrile, not wheezing, and her SpO2 is 90 percent on room air. Does PE cross your mind? What is the best way to diagnose a PE? Is the D-dimer helpful? A 13-year-old male presents with a swollen right arm. There are pulses, but the arm is swollen and plethoric. What therapy does this patient need? The speaker will review these two difficult diagnoses and provide diagnostic tools and treatment plans.
Pediatric Literature Update: Could These Articles Change Your Practice?
1 Hour
Faculty: Richard M. Cantor, MD, FACEP, FAAP
Keeping up with the expanding pediatric emergency medicine literature is quite a challenge for busy emergency physicians. This distinguished speaker will review the literature from the past 12 to 24 months, focusing on those articles that could affect your practice.
Pediatric EM Jeopardy: Test Your Knowledge!
3/4 Hour
Faculty: Richard M. Cantor, MD, FACEP, FAAP; Marianne Gausche-Hill, MD, FACEP, FAAP
Who doesn’t love Jeopardy? Let’s test our collective knowledge in a potpourri of pediatric emergency medicine topics and learn to recognize important signs and symptoms vital to the care of children.
PEM Management Myths: Is What You Were Taught Wrong?
3/4 Hour
Faculty: Sean M. Fox, MD
Throughout the course of medical education, numerous beliefs are passed on as if they are facts. This is particularly true regarding several commonly held beliefs pertaining to the care of children in the ED. During this session, the difference between myth and reality in the pediatric ED will be discussed, including whether cuffed endotracheal tubes are the preferred standard of care for all pediatric patients, whether atropine should be part of the premedication regimen for RSI, and the use of steroids for pharyngitis.
Reading a Head CT in Children: Pitfalls and Pointers
3/4 Hour
Faculty: Joshua S. Broder, MD, FACEP
You are seeing a 3-year-old male with head trauma and the CT scan is up for review. Is that hygroma or a normal finding, and what about the large posterior fossa lucency, is that normal too? The speaker will present CT scan findings you don’t want to miss in children and contrast normal variants from important pathology.
Shades of Grey: Update on Use of Ultrasound in the PED
1 Hour
Faculty: Stephanie J. Doniger, MD, RDMS, FAAP, FACEP
Ultrasound is increasingly important to the pediatric emergency physician when making diagnosis or developing treatment plans. Using case discussion and dynamic video, this expert will provide an update to bedside imaging with particular emphasis on when ultrasound benefits the pediatric patient.
Status Epilepticus Management Strategies: The Latest on the Use of Levetiracetam
1/2 Hour
Faculty: Jill M. Baren, MD, MBE, FACEP, FAAP
This hot topic will focus on the use of new therapies for status epilepticus with a concentration on the use of levetiracetam (Keppra). What evidence exists for its use in the treatment of pediatric status epilepticus? What is the best route and dose of administration? What are the potential side effects? The speaker will use the evidence to incorporate levetiracetam in your treatment algorithm for pediatric status epilepticus.
Syncope: Identifying the Kid at Risk of Sudden Death
3/4 Hour
Faculty: Anjan Batra, MD, FACC
Syncope in the ED is a fairly common complaint in children and most are due to vasovagal etiologies. Yet how do emergency providers identify the rare child at risk of sudden death? Using case presentations, the speaker will review strategies to identify cases of serious causes of syncope such as prolonged QT syndrome, Brugada syndrome, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Advanced ECG reading and an algorithmic approach to a child presenting with syncope will be discussed.
Update on Kawasaki Disease: Is Atypical or Incomplete Kawasaki’s Typical?
1/2 Hour
Faculty: Jeffrey Starke, MD, FAAP
A 6-month-old female presents with 6 days of fever and you consider Kawasaki disease as a diagnosis. What if she were 16-years-old; how many typical features need be present to consider the diagnosis? This expert will discuss the latest guidelines on the evaluation and management of Kawasaki disease, including recognizing atypical cases, presentation of Kawasaki disease in adolescents, use of laboratory evaluation, and when to get a coronary artery ultrasound to look for aneurysms.