PrairiEDocs e-newsletter #6

Other archived PrairiEDocs e-newsletters

Surveying the land (and web) for news (and more)
for the emergency medicine practitioner…

Issue #6 "fasten your seat belt and adjust your headrest as this
electronic ed-venture continues" August 3, 2000

In this issue:

Special Needs Children to Have Emergency Information Forms

A Study of Air Bag Injuries in Infants and Children

Ebola Virus' Hemolytic Component is Identified

Web Grows Larger; How Can We Find Anything in It?

Homeless Helper?

Today's interesting web sites

Quotable Quotes

Financial sponsorship statement & How to contact us

Emergency Information Forms for Special Needs Children 

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) have worked for over two years to develop an Emergency Information Form that standardizes information that would be helpful to emergency medical personnel. Both groups have also developed formal policy statements regarding the use of this form. MedicAlert® will store the information in its 24-hour Emergency Response Center if the child
participates in the MedicAlert® program.

The Emergency Information Form is completed by the child's primary care physician and can then be given to the parent, childcare provider, and/or school nurse. The suggested form entitled "Emergency Information Form for Children With Special Health Care Needs" includes essential data elements such as the patient's name, birth date, date of last summary update, weight, guardian's name, emergency contacts, pediatricians and other health care professionals, primary emergency department, major chronic illnesses and disabilities, baseline physical and mental status, baseline vital signs and laboratory studies, immunization history, medications, medication allergies, food allergies, and a advanced directives.* It can also be kept on file at the EMS service, EMS dispatch center, or Emergency Department. The biggest challenge is keeping the information on the form up to date. Pediatric specialists and subspecialists are being encouraged to keep the child's primary care physician updated so that he or she can update the Emergency Information Form.

To encourage the dissemination of this form, many states are distributing it to EMS providers, school nurses, childcare providers, hospitals, and discharge planners. Other targeted groups include pediatricians and community organizations such as local interagency coordinating councils, local mental health/mental retardation agencies, intermediate units, and any other organizations that deal with specific chronic diseases (e.g., epilepsy, cerebral 
palsy, spina bifida, diabetes, etc.). 

Feel free to download the form and begin using it in your area. If you would like additional information or have specific questions, please contact the EMSC National Resource Center at (800) 360-9296 or MedicAlert® at (800) 432-5378. 

More information about the form is available at 
http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/104/4/e53 

Click on the images below to access a printable copy. Each image is approximately 270K.

First (or 2) pages

Second (of 2) pages

A Study of Air Bag Injuries in Infants and Children

A study was published in the August 2000 issue of Ophthalmology reviewing the injuries that have occurred in children directly contacted by air bag deployments in automobile collisions. Ophthalmologist Gregg Lueder, MD, reviewed the medical records of seven children that were injured. Types of injuries identified were alkali burns, corneal lesions and abrasions, periorbital ecchymosis, eyelid lacerations, hyphema, irritation and inflammation of the iris, temporary loss of visual acuity, cataracts and glaucoma.

Lueder reiterated current advice that infants and children should be secured in the back seats of automobiles to reduce these types of injury risks in addition to other injuries that may occur from inappropriately secured or rear-facing infant seats placed in the front passenger seat of an automobile.

Ebola Virus' Hemolytic Component is Identified

Researchers announced recently that they have identified the component of the dreaded Ebola virus that causes the massive bleeding, a key to the disease's 90% mortality rate. Periodic outbreaks of Ebola virus have received much attention since first being identified in 1976.

A team of researchers led by Drs. Zhi-Yong Yang and Gary Nabel of the NIH Vaccine Research Center in Bethesda, Maryland, reported their findings in the August 2000 issue of Nature Medicine. The research team identified some of the functions of glycoprotein spikes that protrude from the surface of the virus. These functions lead to destruction of endothelial cells and the subsequent diffuse leaking of blood. When the sugars were removed from the proteins in lab experiments, the proteins no longer could destroy the endothelial cells.
Though no current vaccine or specific treatment exists for Ebola, researchers believe this is an important precursor to such developments.

The Ebola virus is named for a river in Zaire where the virus was first identified. Ebola virus strains have been found in Zaire, Sudan and the Ivory Coast in Africa. Simians are affected by the Reston strain (with confirmed outbreaks in Texas and Virginia in captive monkey populations).

Web Grows Larger; How Can We Find Anything in It?

The Web continues to expand so rapidly that today's search engines appear to cover only 1/500th of it. Companies are developing new search software that will tap the volumes of information that are now part of this so-called "invisible Web."

BrightPlanet, a South Dakota company that offers such search software, released a 41-page study in late July 2000, estimating that the Web is 500 times larger than the segment covered by standard search engines such as Yahoo!, AltaVista, and Google.com. According to the study, the Web now holds about 550 billion documents, while conventional search engines index a combined total of 1 billion pages. One significant reason that search engines have not kept up with the number of pages on the Web is that conventional search engines are designed to locate static pages, while large entities such as universities, government agencies and some commercial ventures prefer to store their data in dynamic databases. 

BrightPlanet created LexiBot to find information in these databases, as well as information covered by traditional search engines. LexiBot is marketed for advanced users in the academic and scientific communities. BrightPlanet's deep Web white paper is available online or for download from http://www.completeplanet.com/Tutorials/DeepWeb/index.asp. LexiBot software and further information is found at http://www.lexibot.com. It has a 30-day free trial and, afterwards, costs $90 dollars to purchase. A typical search takes a minimum of 10-15 minutes and a full search takes 60-90 minutes to complete. BrightPlanet's CompletePlanet access point to search engines and searchable databases is found at http://www.completeplanet.com.

Homeless Helper?

A homeless man recently bluffed his way into a Pittsburgh hospital, and worked a night shift posing as a physician's assistant in the emergency department. Of course, the hospital spokespeople said he was closely supervised throughout the shift, and he always wore gloves. (Good thing: he turned out to be HIV-positive, too.) The trick worked because he arrived with a plausible story, dressed like an assistant, gave the name of a doctor with whom he had supposedly arranged to study, and spoke medical jargon, according to a report in the Associated Press. The gig was up when a secretary discovered the phone numbers and addresses he gave on a registration form were false. The man was charged with trespassing and false impersonation. 

Today's interesting web sites... (from TipWorld) 

The Spirit Journal http://www.spiritjournal.com

For beginners and connoisseurs alike, F. Paul Pacult, founder and editor, has created an online monthly journal of articles covering beer, wine, and distilled spirits. The journal accepts no advertising and values its "unbiased professional evaluations and appraisals." For example, you can learn about Tequila, then read reviews and ratings of several brands, such as an 1800 Edicion Gran Reserva del Nuevo Milenio (a steal at $18,000.00 per barrel). The University section demystifies a dizzying array of brews, from Porter to Stout. There are also tips on how to store your distilled spirits and fortified wines. 


Fair Game http://www.itsyourturn.com 

If you enjoy playing some of the classic games, such as Checkers, Backgammon, Reversi, Pente, and Battleship, you may love this site. You don't play against computers, you can play against distant friends and/or family or meet an unknown opponent in the Waiting Room.
You play real people, one move at a time. You can play several games at once, or one single game with one opponent. You play one move at a time, and you cannot move again until your opponent has logged on and made their move. Once you've started a game, you can look at the history of all previous moves. Registration is free, and your opponents never know your email address. This web site does not require the use of Java, Shockwave, or Flash scripts, so it requires no particular memory-intensive program downloads. 

Quotable Quotes

Henry Ford (1863-1947) U.S. auto manufacturer:

"Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it."

"Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently."

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) English author, critic:

"What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child."

"You see things; and say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were and say 'Why not?'"