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Primary Care

What is “Dry Drowning,” and How Do I Talk to Parents About It?
 What is “Dry Drowning,” and How Do I Talk to Parents About It? 1024 683 Daniel Scherzer, MD and Bema Bonsu, MD
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The concern about so called “dry drowning” (which is not an actual medical phrase; neither is “secondary drowning”) is based on the fear that a child can unexpectedly succumb to respiratory problems some unpredictable time after swimming. This fear has been exacerbated by media reports dramatizing events without fully explaining them. The concept that dry…

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Pediatricians Offer Valuable Oral Health Services for the Very Young, Before and Throughout Pandemic
 Pediatricians Offer Valuable Oral Health Services for the Very Young, Before and Throughout Pandemic 1024 680 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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toddler brushing teeth

Medical professionals see very young children much more frequently during the first several years of life than dentists, and many states’ Medicaid programs have seized the opportunity to reimburse pediatricians for preventive oral care, such as fluoride application and oral hygiene education. Despite reimbursement options and national guidelines recommending dental care begin by age 1,…

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Even Severe Asthma Can Improve if Guidelines Are Followed
 Even Severe Asthma Can Improve if Guidelines Are Followed 1024 683 Mary Bates, PhD
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Patients treated with adequate medications and asthma family education can significantly improve irrespective of asthma severity. Severe asthma accounts for 5-8% of patients with asthma, but this group is more challenging to treat and is responsible for up to 40% of total asthma-care expenses. The majority of patients with severe asthma have difficult-to-treat asthma (in…

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How Important is Fasting for Pediatric Routine Cholesterol Screening?
 How Important is Fasting for Pediatric Routine Cholesterol Screening? 1024 575 Andrew Tran, MD
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A nonfasting lipid panel is a great first-line screening tool to use. While it is ideal to have a fasting lipid panel, this can be difficult to obtain in practice. For the purposes of screening, I think that it is much more important to go ahead and get the nonfasting lipid panel while the patient…

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How Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Measles Vaccination Rates?
 How Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Measles Vaccination Rates? 1024 575 Mary Bates, PhD
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Toddler playing with toys

Researchers are concerned about declining vaccination rates in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital pediatric primary care network. One consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic is that more families are putting off their children’s preventive care visits, causing pediatric providers to worry about missed vaccines. In a recent study published in Pediatrics, researchers at Nationwide Children’s evaluated changes in…

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More to Telehealth Than Meets the Screen
 More to Telehealth Than Meets the Screen 1024 535 Abbie Roth
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Collage of health technology tools

Telehealth has become essential to American health care during the COVID-19 pandemic, but is it really the solution to our biggest access-to-care problems? When COVID-19 ignited stay-at-home orders, public and private insurers quickly relaxed the rules for covering telehealth visits. Health care systems responded in kind by rapidly expanding their telehealth capacity and training. Expanding…

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When Should Breastfed Babies Be Supplemented?
 When Should Breastfed Babies Be Supplemented? 1024 575 Vanessa Shanks
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This question has received increasing attention in the last several years, especially when considering supplementation for late preterm and early term babies. As more hospitals focus on promoting and supporting breastfeeding, supplementation rates have decreased for infants in the newborn nursery. However, there has been increasing awareness from primary care providers who may see these…

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Distal Radius Physeal Bar and Ulnar Overgrowth: Indications for Treatment
 Distal Radius Physeal Bar and Ulnar Overgrowth: Indications for Treatment 1024 575 Julie Samora
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Distal radius fractures are among the most common fractures in pediatrics. Although most heal without complication, some result in partial or complete physeal arrest. Risk factors for distal radius growth arrest include physeal fractures, ischemia, infection, radiation, tumor, blood dyscrasias, burns, frostbite and repetitive stress.  The distal radius physis is responsible for 75% of the…

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How Practical COVID-19 Education for Community Providers Sprang From a Pediatric Behavioral Health Project ECHO
 How Practical COVID-19 Education for Community Providers Sprang From a Pediatric Behavioral Health Project ECHO 1024 575 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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When Partners For Kids® (PFK) and Nationwide Children’s Hospital launched Project ECHO in 2018, they did it to help community providers cope with common behavioral health conditions in their patient populations. Unexpectedly, it became a tool to supply Ohio physicians with some of the most proactive education in the nation about adapting their business practices to accommodate COVID-19-related…

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Preventing and Addressing Child Abuse During COVID-19
 Preventing and Addressing Child Abuse During COVID-19 1024 575 Kristin Crichton, DO, MPH
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With schools and daycares closed, stay-at-home orders in effect, and most non-emergency health care visits being conducted via telehealth, reporting and addressing child abuse is more difficult. Dr. Crichton from The Center for Family Safety and Healing shares advice for providers to identify child abuse during telehealth visits. As concerns about the coronavirus pandemic swept…

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The Path to a Long Career in Medicine
 The Path to a Long Career in Medicine 150 150 William Long, MD
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I want to be a pediatrician forever. But the laws of nature won’t let me. In addition, many of us of all ages, are feeling increased pressure and demands that come with our profession.  From insurance issues, and just about everything with the EMR, to the rise in patient behavioral health complaints — it is…

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Exercise as Medicine: What Does This Really Mean?
 Exercise as Medicine: What Does This Really Mean? 1024 575 Alyssa Schafer
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A child’s lack of exercise can contribute to numerous health issues. “Currently, physical inactivity is ranked as the number four cause of death. 5.5% of deaths are due to physical inactivity which is totally preventable and treatable,” says James MacDonald, MD, MPH, a physician for Nationwide Children’s Sports Medicine. The question at large is how much do…

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Medical Marijuana 101: What Does Increasing Legalization of Medical Marijuana Mean for Pediatrics?
 Medical Marijuana 101: What Does Increasing Legalization of Medical Marijuana Mean for Pediatrics? 479 272 Chet Kaczor
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The legalization of medical marijuana has been front and center in community conversation over the last several years. As more states turn to legalization under specific conditions, the federal law has not changed. Experts in pediatric health care are carefully considering what legalization of medical marijuana could mean for children and adolescents with chronic or…

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Addressing Childhood Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Primary Care
 Addressing Childhood Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Primary Care 150 150 Jeb Phillips
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Primary care providers play an important role in recognizing the disorder and in providing a bridge to mental health care providers.

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Should “Non-High Risk Patients” With Uncomplicated Influenza be Given Antivirals?
 Should “Non-High Risk Patients” With Uncomplicated Influenza be Given Antivirals? 150 150 Michael T. Brady, MD
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This question references a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that is open to interpretation. For years, the CDC has recommended that all “hospitalized, severely ill and high-risk patients with suspected or confirmed influenza should be treated with antivirals.” Those at high risk include children younger than 2 years of age and…

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The Joys and Challenges of Rural Pediatrics
 The Joys and Challenges of Rural Pediatrics 1024 575 Jill Neff, DO
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I often tell my medical students to choose not just a specialty but, first, a place where they want to live. Being happy with one’s life is more important than just being happy with one’s job. If a person prefers to live in a rural setting, then they probably should not become a neuro- or…

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Primary Care for Refugee Children: What Providers Need to Know
 Primary Care for Refugee Children: What Providers Need to Know 1024 575 Aimee Swartz, MPH
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Toddler playing with toys

The growing number of refugee children across the United States means that more pediatricians need to be aware of the unique health needs of this population. The world’s estimated refugee population has surged to 24.5 million individuals – more than half of whom are children – at United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) last count. Many…

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Primary Care Provider Guide to Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Follow Up
 Primary Care Provider Guide to Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Follow Up 150 150 Nationwide Children's
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Pediatricians have a unique challenge when it comes to caring for the broad spectrum of needs associated with opioid-exposed infants. Some babies who were treated with pharmacological methods in a hospital will be discharged home still on neuro-active medications. Other babies did not receive a neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) diagnosis or specific treatment after birth…

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How Primary Care Providers Can Address Suicidal Youth and Self-Harming Behaviors
 How Primary Care Providers Can Address Suicidal Youth and Self-Harming Behaviors 150 150 John Hofmeister
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Pediatricians are in an optimal position to see early warning signs and recommend treatment. Pediatricians are often in an optimal position to see early warning signs of suicidal and self-harming behavior in their patients, to diagnose and recommend treatment, and to provide referrals depending on individual presentation and symptom severity. To help providers who may…

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Considerations for Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care
 Considerations for Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care 150 150 Cody Hostutler, PhD
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As increasing numbers of pediatric patients require behavioral health care, primary care providers look to integrate behavioral health providers in their practice. You know the story. It’s the middle of a busy Friday afternoon, you just finished up an adolescent well-visit, your hand is on the door and you hear, “Doc, one more question?” The…

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8 Ways You Can Support Families in Need of Behavioral Health Services
 8 Ways You Can Support Families in Need of Behavioral Health Services 150 150 Nancy Cunningham, PsyD
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Long wait times and difficulties accessing behavioral health services cause stress for many patients and families. As awareness grows about the prevalence of behavioral health challenges for children and adolescents, more patients and families are seeking specialized care. However, due to a shortage of behavioral health specialists, wait times can seem daunting. As the pediatrician,…

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Managing Depression, Anxiety and Other Behavioral Health Issues in Primary Care
 Managing Depression, Anxiety and Other Behavioral Health Issues in Primary Care 1024 575 Rachael Hardison
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Teen girl with backpack

An estimated 20 percent of children struggle with mental health illness. As awareness grows, the call for primary care physicians to play a leading role in care grows louder. One in five children will struggle with a mental health illness by the age of 12, but a recent survey by the American Academy of Pediatrics…

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Childhood Kidney Stones: Their Surprising Connection to Future Disease
 Childhood Kidney Stones: Their Surprising Connection to Future Disease 150 150 Jeb Phillips
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Once thought to be an adult condition, urinary stone disease is increasingly found in children – and may be related to the development of cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease and low bone density. By one well-regarded estimate, the risk of developing urinary stone disease in childhood doubled between 1997 and 2012. That’s worrying enough on…

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

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Digital Education for Patients and Families
 Digital Education for Patients and Families 150 150 Mike Patrick, MD
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When patients and parents want health information, they often turn to the Internet. Let’s make sure they’re finding the right sources. In the digital age, young patients and their parents have an encyclopedic world of health information at their fingertips. Answers are available on demand, and most people find them. In fact, according to recent…

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1 in 8 Children Exposed to Violence 5 or More Times in a Year
 1 in 8 Children Exposed to Violence 5 or More Times in a Year 150 150 Tiasha Letostak, PhD
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The average pediatric subspecialist sees two to four child polyvictims each day. What can physicians do to help these children and their families? According to the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV), 60 percent of children have directly experienced or indirectly witnessed at least one act of violence in the previous year. Nearly…

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