Children’s Rules for Imaging the Cervical Spine Evaluation Study

In this study, clinicians looked at all children presenting to the ED over a 12 month period for the assessment of possible cervical spine injury to better understand how children are treated in hospital and how further investigation into the use of these rules can be undertaken.

Children rarely break their necks but if they do, they can risk spinal injury or death. Many more children present for assessment of possible cervical spine (neck) injuries than are subsequently diagnosed with cervical spine injury. The challenge for the emergency doctor is to identify the rare cases without subjecting too many children to unnecessary tests.
These tests, x-rays and scans, have risks including exposure to radiation and associated danger of long term cancer development, as well as the possible need for sedation to perform the scan in young children. Awaiting these tests is often a time of prolonged distress for the patient and family as the child needs to be kept lying flat and still without moving their neck. Considerable staff time and Emergency Department costs are associated with these tests. Rules have been proposed to assist doctors in deciding whether tests are needed.

High Flow Nasal Cannula (HFNC) Therapy in Infants with Bronchiolitis, a Randomised Controlled Trial in Regional Emergency Departments.

Bronchiolitis in infants is the leading cause of paediatric hospitalisation in Australia accounting for approximately 8000 admissions annually, of which approximately 500-600 are admitted to a paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) requiring respiratory support. None of the current treatments have successfully changed the outcome of the disease or the burden on health care systems. High flow nasal cannula (HFNC) therapy has been used over the last few years in paediatrics with reports showing a reduction in the need for non-invasive and invasive respiratory support.

HFNC reduces the work of breathing, improves the gas exchange and can be applied very early in the disease process as there is little inference with the patients comfort. There has been no “best practice” and many centres do not use the HFNC for bronchiolitis as there are opposing reports about its benefit and a lack of consensus on how to use it. This study aims to develop a multi-centre trial and to assess which patients with bronchiolitis benefit using HFNC.

In an earlier pilot study, the team found the use of HFNC therapy in PICUs significantly reduced the need for invasive ventilation and intubation, with a 40% reduced PICU admission rate, a 2.5 times reduction in intubation. They also showed the use of HFNC therapy in a paediatric ward was safe and delivered high quality care for infants with bronchiolitis. They also showed that infants <2 years of age could be safely transported on HFNC to tertiary facilities.