Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice

Racism Revisited
Racism Revisited 1024 683 Deena Chisolm, PhD

Deena Chisolm, PhD, shares why it is essential for the research community to take action against systemic racism. Five years after the publication of this post on racism, the topic is as relevant as ever. In the wake of racial disparities in the COVID-19 pandemic, continuing incidents of police brutality costing the lives of unarmed Black people,…

Health Care and Medication Use Among Adolescents with Opioid Use Disorder in Ohio
Health Care and Medication Use Among Adolescents with Opioid Use Disorder in Ohio 1024 575 Abbie Miller

From Ohio – a state in the heart of the opioid crisis – a new study on the medications prescribed to teens with opioid use disorder. A new study from researchers in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, recently published in Journal of Adolescent Health,…

Dentists Heeded FDA Warning on Codeine
Dentists Heeded FDA Warning on Codeine 1024 683 Mary Bates, PhD
open bottle of pills

An FDA black box warning directed at ENT doctors performing tonsil and adenoid surgeries also affected prescribing patterns by dentists. Codeine, an opioid analgesic, was popular in pediatrics because it was thought to be a safe alternative to morphine. However, in recent years, the drug has been found to have variability in therapeutic doses, with…

Finding the Reasons Why: Looking for Answers in Trends of Child and Youth Suicides
Finding the Reasons Why: Looking for Answers in Trends of Child and Youth Suicides 1024 575 Kevin Mayhood

Epidemiological studies are the first step to learn how to prevent suicide attempts and deaths. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among 10- to 24-year-olds. And even as awareness grows, the suicide rate continues to climb, according to national statistics. But those national statistics don’t tell the whole story. For decades, researchers around the…

A Hidden Epidemic: Parental Incarceration and What To Do When It Affects Your Patients
A Hidden Epidemic: Parental Incarceration and What To Do When It Affects Your Patients 1024 512 Andrew Axelson and Samantha Boch, PhD

If having an incarcerated parent was classified as a chronic health condition, it would be the second most prevalent chronic condition in the United States for children under the age of 18 – just behind asthma. In fact, the percentage of American youth with an incarcerated parent is about 10 times higher than the percentage…

Free Disposal Bags Increase Rate of Proper Opioid Disposal
Free Disposal Bags Increase Rate of Proper Opioid Disposal 150 150 Kevin Mayhood

With or without the bags, families of young children prescribed opioids after surgery properly discard drugs at more than double the rate of adults prescribed post-operative opioids. Handing parents a free drug-disposal bag and discussing its usage significantly increases the rate of proper disposal of unused opioid pain medication leftover after surgery, a study at…

Pediatric Patients Receive Higher Radiation at Non-pediatric Trauma Centers
Pediatric Patients Receive Higher Radiation at Non-pediatric Trauma Centers 150 150 Bailey Dye

A novel software tool for calculating radiation burden has determined that pediatric trauma patients, evaluated using CT imaging primarily at adult trauma centers, demonstrate higher radiation exposure than those imaged primarily at a pediatric trauma center. Computed tomography (CT) is a mainstay of the diagnosis and treatment of trauma, the leading cause of death in…

Treating Pilonidal Disease with Laser Hair Depilation
Treating Pilonidal Disease with Laser Hair Depilation 150 150 Mary Bates, PhD

Race, Insurance, and ED Visits for Pediatric Crohn’s Disease
Race, Insurance, and ED Visits for Pediatric Crohn’s Disease 1024 680 Jeb Phillips
Close up color photo of little boy holding hands on his belly

Black children and children insured by Medicaid make more repeat emergency department visits for Crohn’s disease than their white and privately insured peers. In what appears to be the first nationally representative study evaluating the impact of race and insurance status on emergency department treatment for Crohn’s disease, a team of physicians and researchers at…

How Primary Care Providers Can Help Justice-Involved Youth
How Primary Care Providers Can Help Justice-Involved Youth 1024 683 Deena Chisolm, PhD

Deena Chisolm, PhD, shares how primary care physicians can support youth who may experience behavioral health issues related to justice involvement. For most people in the United States, the law enforcement and criminal justice systems support a sense of safety and security.  However, for some populations, particularly people of color, perceptions of and interactions with…

Four Reasons Hospitals Fail to Prioritize Drug Abuse in Communities Plagued by Opioids
Four Reasons Hospitals Fail to Prioritize Drug Abuse in Communities Plagued by Opioids 150 150 Kevin Mayhood

Lack of money and expertise, risk and stigma appear to forestall community benefit programming. Communities in Appalachian Ohio are among the hardest hit in America’s opioid crisis, but a study of hospitals in the region shows that under half make substance abuse a priority in their community benefit programs. “These hospitals are comfortable addressing diabetes,…

Using Antibiotics Alone for Children with Uncomplicated Appendicitis
Using Antibiotics Alone for Children with Uncomplicated Appendicitis 150 150 Gina Bericchia

One year follow-up of patients treated only with antibiotics found that 76 percent avoided surgery. Using antibiotics alone to treat children with uncomplicated acute appendicitis is a reasonable alternative to surgery when chosen by the family, finds a recent study led by researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Three out of four children with uncomplicated appendicitis…

Using Informatics to Help Identify Patients for Research
Using Informatics to Help Identify Patients for Research 150 150 Tiasha Letostak, PhD

Researchers use Informatics for Integrating Biology and the Bedside (i2b2), a system that can rapidly convert a large amount of clinical data into searchable information, to dramatically reduce the time needed for patient cohort identification. Patient cohort identification, or the process of finding patients with shared characteristics, is an important first step in the early…

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…

Crohn’s Disease Not Exempt From Racial Disparities
Crohn’s Disease Not Exempt From Racial Disparities 150 150 Gina Bericchia

Disparities exist among pediatric Crohn’s patients of different races for a number of health care metrics. A study published in the journal Inflammatory Bowel Diseases found significant differences in hospital readmissions, medication usage and both medical and surgical complications of children with Crohn’s disease related to race. In the study, black children had a 1.5 times higher frequency…

Probing for Links Between Psychotropic Drugs and Severe Liver Disease
Probing for Links Between Psychotropic Drugs and Severe Liver Disease 150 150 Kevin Mayhood

Drugs that help minors with severe mental health disorders may put overweight and obese patients at risk for severe liver disease. In a paper that appears to be the first to suggest the connection, the authors point out that youths who suffer from psychiatric illnesses are already at greater risk for obesity and its comorbidities.…