Stephen M. Sandelich is a pediatric emergency physician.

3 bedside tools for adolescent overdose prevention

Conditions and Diseases
July 24, 2026

The call came at 2 a.m. Not about a new patient. About one who had left.

She had been in my department three days earlier. Eighteen years old. Came in with chest tightness after a night out. Tox screen negative. Discharged. Three days later, fentanyl overdose. Dead. I have replayed that visit more times than I can count.

New data published in Emergency Medicine News puts a number on how many families …

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3 bedside tools for adolescent overdose prevention

Substance use screening is vital for adolescent health

Conditions and Diseases
May 16, 2026

Last year, I saw a teenager in the emergency department (ED). He was 15, and his mother brought him in after finding a vape in his backpack. She wanted him screened for substance use, but he wanted no part of it.

I asked him a few questions anyway. He gave short answers and stared at the ceiling while his mother watched from the doorway. No one in the room felt comfortable. …

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Substance use screening is vital for adolescent health

The true crime community is radicalizing kids online

Physician
April 26, 2026

As physicians who regularly work with pediatric patients, and experts in counter-terrorism, we know firsthand the dangers that online radicalization poses to youth. Nihilistic violent extremism (NVE), which glorifies violence for the sake of violence, is on the rise globally. Many of these decentralized online networks, such as the 764 Network, specifically target children for recruitment. 764 has seen a sharp increase in popularity, and has become the …

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The true crime community is radicalizing kids online

Peer-led storytelling in adolescent substance use prevention

Conditions and Diseases
April 8, 2026

Every week in the pediatric emergency department, I see the consequences of adolescent substance use that started too early and went unaddressed for too long. A teenager in crisis. A family blindsided. A window of prevention that closed long before anyone realized it was open.

We keep asking the same question: How do we reach kids before it gets to this point?

The answer, it turns out, might already be sitting in …

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Peer-led storytelling in adolescent substance use prevention