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Dave Ghose

Better Care and Better Business
Better Care and Better Business 150 150 Dave Ghose

The changing economics of health care are forcing hospitals to find solutions that are good for patients and for the bottom line. A puzzled neonatologist approached Richard McClead, MD, after he spoke at a conference in Boston. It was 2010, and Dr. McClead just finished detailing a new initiative at Nationwide Children’s Hospital to reduce the…

Hidden Victims
Hidden Victims 150 150 Dave Ghose

Pediatricians acknowledge the emerging public health challenge of child commercial sexual exploitation. Public health officials no longer think that human trafficking is just a problem in the developing world. Increasing awareness has focused attention on the exploitation of children in the United States, showing that medical professionals can uncover problems in their own backyards. “I…

Helping the Child by Helping the Mom
Helping the Child by Helping the Mom 150 150 Dave Ghose

Pediatricians can help babies by doing a better job screening new mothers for postpartum depression. Up to 20 percent of new mothers experience postpartum depression, but studies show that nearly half go undiagnosed. If pediatricians were to play a greater role in identifying mothers experiencing symptoms, they could play an important role in helping these…

The Childhood Roots of Illness
The Childhood Roots of Illness 1024 575 Dave Ghose
Toddler playing with toys

A growing body of scientific evidence reveals the dramatic impact of early-life adversity on lifelong health. Kelly Kelleher, MD, compares childhood health to a boulder sitting on the peak of a mountain. A slight push could send the boulder in many directions. And once it starts rolling, it’s hard to change its path. The same…

What Do DALYs Mean for Pediatrics?
What Do DALYs Mean for Pediatrics? 150 150 Dave Ghose

An emerging, innovative metric could radically change childhood health policy. A new way of looking at illness is beginning to change how public health officials view life and death. The concept — called DALYs — offers a fuller view of disease that could have a big impact on pediatrics if embraced. Unlike death tolls —…

Patients Without Borders
Patients Without Borders 150 150 Dave Ghose

Immigrant children represent the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population. What can pediatricians do to help these vulnerable patients? James Duffee, MD, MPH, watched the immigrant population change dramatically during his 15 years as a community health pediatrician and child psychiatrist in Springfield, Ohio. When he founded the Rocking Horse Community Health Center in 1999,…

Cholesterol Screening: What’s the Right Approach?
Cholesterol Screening: What’s the Right Approach? 150 150 Dave Ghose

The jury is still out on whether universal testing of children is a good thing. To screen or not to screen? For pediatricians, that question is far from answered when it comes to universal cholesterol testing. Despite an endorsement of the practice from an expert panel at the end of 2011, controversy continues to shroud…

Disparities in Care: Beyond Insurance
Disparities in Care: Beyond Insurance 150 150 Dave Ghose

A Minnesota study suggests the ACA’s Medicaid expansion won’t be enough to reduce persistent health care disparities among minority groups. The health care gap isn’t just about insurance. A variety of barriers — including transportation, inconvenient office hours, cultural biases and confusing information — prevent minorities from accessing health care. In a paper published in the August issue…

Stressed Out: Toxic Stress and Child Brain Development
Stressed Out: Toxic Stress and Child Brain Development 150 150 Dave Ghose

Stress, in small doses, can be good for children. When they argue with another child over a toy or attend a new school or daycare, the experience can teach them valuable coping skills. Even a more intense event, such as the death of a loved one or a frightening accident, can be beneficial developmentally with…

Out of Drugs: Planning for the Unthinkable
Out of Drugs: Planning for the Unthinkable 150 150 Dave Ghose

Pediatric cancer specialists have faced an enormous challenge in recent years. With critical chemotherapy drugs often in short supply, they’ve been forced to improvise alternative treatments or purchase medicine from questionable secondary sources. These practices raise safety and ethical concerns. Emerging evidence indicates that shortages are harming patients in some instances, exposing them to more…

Liquid Danger
Liquid Danger 150 150 Dave Ghose

Henry Spiller, MS, DABT, never used to worry too much about nicotine poisoning. If a child ate a cigarette, he might throw up but wasn’t going to die. Then e-cigarettes took off about seven years ago and changed the equation. Now, Spiller and other toxicologists fear the death of a child from nicotine poisoning is…