Children’s health

1,495 articles · Since 2011

Articles, page 52

A Google search can make all the difference in the world for patients

June 20, 2015Jun 20, 2015

One Google search can sometimes change everything. After learning something new about our child’s health or condition, especially for worried parents and caregivers, leveraging online search as a resource in diagnosis, clarification and education is typical behavior. Searching out support,…

One Google search can sometimes change everything.

After learning something new about our child’s health or condition, especially for worried parents and caregivers, leveraging online search as a resource in diagnosis, clarification and education is typical behavior. Searching out support, camaraderie and tips online just makes sense. In fact, 2013 data from the Pew Research Center finds that 1 in 3 …

Physician voices

Our most celebrated pediatricians are not maintaining certification

Meg Edison, MD

June 19, 2015Jun 19, 20157

My inbox has been flooded lately with emails from fellow pediatricians begging for help fighting the American Board of Pediatrics MOC program. These are doctors with decades in the care of children, now threatened with complete loss of their ability to practice because of the onerous ABP MOC process. In trying to help my colleagues, I visited the ABP website today and …

Conditions and diseases

Which kills more? Guns or cars? The answer will surprise you.

Claire McCarthy, MD

June 17, 2015Jun 17, 201554

Here's a question for you: Which causes more deaths, motor vehicle traffics accidents or firearms? I asked a bunch of people that question, including a bunch of doctors, and everyone said that motor vehicles did, by a lot. According to…

Here’s a question for you: Which causes more deaths, motor vehicle traffics accidents or firearms?

I asked a bunch of people that question, including a bunch of doctors, and everyone said that motor vehicles did, by a lot.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2013, 33,804 people died from motor vehicle traffic accidents — and 33, 636 died from firearms.

They kill the same number of …

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Conditions and diseases

My child has hand-foot-and-mouth disease. What do I need to know?

Roy Benaroch, MD

June 15, 2015Jun 15, 2015

Desiree wrote in, “My 15-month daughter and a few other kids at her daycare were just diagnosed with hand-foot-mouth disease. I would like to hear how common it is, what treatments (or ways to soothe) you find helpful, and how you would differentiate this from measles or chickenpox. For example, my little one has blisters all over her body, not just H-F-M. …

Conditions and diseases

The controversy about shaken baby syndrome actually isn’t one at all

Christopher Johnson, MD

June 14, 2015Jun 14, 2015

A recent series of articles in the Washington Post and a segment on NPR have caused quite a stir. The articles are about what we have called for decades shaken baby syndrome. It can be fatal. We now use the term non-accidental head trauma. This term replaced the older one because it is more specific; children …

Physician voices

What 3 pediatricians think about the civil unrest in Baltimore

Erica Sibinga, MD & Rachel Thornton, MD, PhD & Tina Cheng, MD, MPH

June 4, 2015Jun 4, 20158

Recent events in Baltimore sparked by the tragic death of Freddie Gray in police custody have thrust our city into the national and international spotlight. As others have observed, the anger, violence and grief that erupted in Baltimore following Gray’s…

Recent events in Baltimore sparked by the tragic death of Freddie Gray in police custody have thrust our city into the national and international spotlight.

As others have observed, the anger, violence and grief that erupted in Baltimore following Gray’s death have roots that run much deeper — and much wider — than the highly publicized clashes between law enforcement and minority …

Physician voices

This pediatrician realizes the power of families

Ahmad Bailony, MD

June 4, 2015Jun 4, 2015

While examining a newborn baby for the first time, a mother happened to ask me, “Doc, what was your name?” “Dr. Bailony,” I replied. “Wow, that was the name of my pediatrician as a kid,” she said with a surprised tone in her voice. It turned out that her pediatrician as a young girl was my father, and by random chance …

Conditions and diseases

Exercise for kids is more than just dance class

Claire McCarthy, MD

June 2, 2015Jun 2, 20152

When you send your kid to dance class, it's reasonable to think that not only are they learning how to dance, but that they are getting exercise. Most parents think that way; dance class certainly gets mentioned when I ask…

When you send your kid to dance class, it’s reasonable to think that not only are they learning how to dance, but that they are getting exercise. Most parents think that way; dance class certainly gets mentioned when I ask parents in my practice what their children do for exercise.

Not so much, says a study just published in the …

Conditions and diseases

When young patients become pregnant before they are ready to be parents

Jennifer L Northridge, MD & Susan M. Coupey, MD

May 28, 2015May 28, 20152

As adolescent medicine physicians based in the Bronx, which has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the nation, we frequently see how young patients become pregnant before they are ready to be parents. While U.S. pregnancy rates among…

While U.S. pregnancy rates among girls aged 15 to 19 years have been declining over the past two decades, still nearly 600,000 girls younger than 20 years …

Conditions and diseases

Common sense guidelines for children with lice

Roy Benaroch, MD

May 25, 2015May 25, 20152

A new clinical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics is a rare beacon of coherent thought about lice and children. Rather than humiliating children and driving them away like lepers, the AAP recommends common-sense steps to identify and treat…

A new clinical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics is a rare beacon of coherent thought about lice and children.

Rather than humiliating children and driving them away like lepers, the AAP recommends common-sense steps to identify and treat lice. Some facts really shouldn’t be in dispute:

Lice is not a serious illness or a significant hazard to health. They don’t make anyone sick, and they do not spread any

…

Physician voices

Bruce Jenner is evolving the birds and the bees talk

Claire McCarthy, MD

May 25, 2015May 25, 20153

The other day, a teen patient of mine told me she is pansexual. We were having the usual talk I have with teen patients, the one where I we talk about sex and sexuality and birth control and sexually transmitted…

The other day, a teen patient of mine told me she is pansexual.

We were having the usual talk I have with teen patients, the one where I we talk about sex and sexuality and birth control and sexually transmitted infections. But over the past few years, that conversation often takes interesting turns when I ask about sexuality, like it did the …

Conditions and diseases

How to win patients and vaccinate people

Wendy L. Hunter, MD

May 22, 2015May 22, 2015

We physicians have long labored under the belief that if we provide objective data about the safety and efficacy of vaccines we can change anti-vaxxers’ minds. But political scientist Brendan Nyhan, Ph.D. has shown that directly addressing patients’ concerns about vaccines does little to change their decision to immunize. And he’s probably right. Other research examining the effects of education …

Patient voices

My wife wanted to fire our pediatrician. What can we learn from this?

Dave Denniston, CFA

May 22, 2015May 22, 201538

It was May 13th, 2012. Mother’s Day. My wife, Cyrena, was having an incredibly difficult pregnancy. She had pounding headaches, blurred vision, and searing pain throughout her body. As a matter of fact, she had been in and out of the hospital for the last two weeks. Our tiny daughter was only developed 23 weeks in gestation. Her due date was …

Conditions and diseases

New hope for those diagnosed with autism

Lisa Shulman, MD

May 20, 2015May 20, 2015

As I have been known to say on this blog once or twice before, one of my favorite things about being a developmental pediatrician is the opportunity to follow the children I see for initial diagnostic evaluation over the long term. New research presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies conference makes me especially hopeful.

When our …

Conditions and diseases

Deliver a princess. And then be home for dinner.

Justin Morgan, MD

May 19, 2015May 19, 2015

On May 2, 2015, at approximately 6 a.m. local time, the Duchess of Cambridge was admitted to the Lindo Wing of Saint Mary’s Hospital after going into labor. At 8:34 a.m., the Duke and Duchess welcomed a baby girl, Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, into the world weighing 8 lbs. 3 oz. Kensington Palace announced the arrival of the fourth royal in line to the British throne at 11 a.m. At around …

Physician voices

There should not be a body count to disprove bad science

Don S. Dizon, MD

May 17, 2015May 17, 2015

A few months ago, I became aware of the ongoing measles outbreak that has been traced back to visits to Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, which began in December 2014. I remember reading the news reports, including the defense of those…

Conditions and diseases

So your child swallowed a button battery. Here’s what you need to know.

Timothy Hadley, DO

May 13, 2015May 13, 2015

Each year children ingest an array of foreign bodies including coins, magnets, and a new subset of batteries known as button batteries. Awareness of this small yet very dangerous foreign body is important for parents to understand so they can…

What is a button battery?

A button battery is a cylindrically shaped object measuring …

Medical education

Counting 80 hours: The life of a pediatric resident

Katie Lockwood, MD

May 5, 2015May 5, 201518

At a recent block party, neighbors asked me questions about the life of a resident. It amazed me how little the general public still knows about the hours a resident works. Over the years, TV shows have shed some light on what the experience of a resident is like, although none are quite realistic, but it is hard to appreciate from …

Physician voices

What to tell your kids about the Baltimore riots

Claire McCarthy, MD

May 1, 2015May 1, 201542

The riots in Baltimore are all over the news. As a parent, it would seem like the best thing to say to your kids is that riots are bad, that violence isn't the way to solve anything. But that would…

The riots in Baltimore are all over the news. As a parent, it would seem like the best thing to say to your kids is that riots are bad, that violence isn’t the way to solve anything.

But that would be missing the point — and missing an opportunity.

Don’t get me wrong; I don’t think that riots are good or that violence is the way to solve things. But what is …

Physician voices

Being a doctor sometimes extends far beyond our own patients

Susan D. Klugman, MD

April 29, 2015Apr 29, 20152

I boarded the 8:30 Metro-North railroad train home from Manhattan recently after leaving a medical meeting. It had been a long and productive day, but now I was searching for a mint in my pocketbook because I had a weird…

Just before the train left Grand Central, a family of three hurried on and sat near me. The father said, “My …

Children’s health

Articles, page 52

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