IDEA Series: 3D-printed pediatric lumbar puncture trainer

Pediatric lumbar puncture trainers are less available than adult trainers; most are the newborn size and quite expensive. Due to age-based practice patterns for fever diagnostic testing, most pediatric lumbar punctures are performed on young infants, and residents have fewer opportunities to perform lumbar punctures on older children.¹ Adult lumbar puncture trainers have been created using a 3D-printed spine and ballistics gel, which allows for ultrasound guidance.² No previous model has been described for pediatric lumbar puncture.

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By Patrick Leaf,MD|2026-06-16T16:16:31-07:00Sep 16, 2020|IDEA series, Medical Education, Neurology, Pediatrics, Simulation|

SplintER Series: Pediatric Elbow Pain

A 9-year-old male presents with right elbow pain after a fall onto the elbow. What is your diagnosis? What common pediatric elbow findings are you looking for? What is your management and disposition in the ED? (Image 1: Case courtesy of Dr Ian Bickle, Radiopaedia.org, rID: 47354)

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By Mark Hopkins, MD|2026-06-16T16:16:11-07:00Jul 22, 2020|Expert Peer Reviewed (Clinical), Orthopedic, Pediatrics, SplintER|

PEM Pearls: Intranasal Medications in the Pediatric ER

Fiona is a 6 year old female who presents to your emergency department after falling onto her left hand while racing on the playground. X-ray of the left upper extremity reveals a distal radius fracture with minimal displacement and angulation. You plan to place her arm in a splint and arrange for close orthopedic follow-up. The only problem: Fiona is in a lot of pain, especially with any manipulation of her arm, and Dad is worried that she will not be able to tolerate having a splint placed. You consider reaching for an intranasal medication to help Fiona feel more comfortable and to place the splint in a quick, efficient manner.

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By Alia Church, MD|2026-07-03T10:58:38-07:00Jul 20, 2020|PEM Pearls, Tox & Medications|

Little Big Med Podcast: Gender Equity in Medicine

It’s time to talk about gender equity in medicine. Significant gender disparities exist in both healthcare institutions and professional societies. These disparities persist even in fields that are predominantly female, such as pediatrics. In fact, although women comprise 72.3% of active pediatricians, only 27.5% of pediatric department chairs across US medical schools are women. Why does this disparity exist? What can we do to address it? In this episode of the Little Big Med podcast, host Dr. Jason Woods discusses these questions with Dr. Nancy Spector, Professor of Pediatrics at Drexel University College of Medicine and Executive Director of the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) program.

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By Kellen Vu|2026-06-16T16:16:03-07:00Jul 10, 2020|Pediatrics, Podcasts, Professional Development, Social Media & Tech|

PEM Pearls: Metered-Dose Inhaler versus Nebulizer

An 8-year-old is brought in by her parents with shortness of breath and wheezing. She’s been receiving her “rescue inhaler” at home and continues to have symptoms. You examine her and find that she has normal oxygen saturation, mild tachypnea and retractions, and diffuse wheezes. You think that she’s experiencing an acute asthma exacerbation. Given the current pandemic, and a recent report that administering nebulizer treatments to COVID-19 positive patients was correlated with transmission of COVID-19 to healthcare workers [1], what is the best way to treat the patient?

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By Kevin Rolnick, MD|2020-07-01T07:58:37-07:00Jun 24, 2020|PEM Pearls, Tox & Medications|

PEM Pearls: Chest Radiographs for Shortness of Breath

Figure 1: Photo by Tim Bish on Unsplash

Paramedics bring in a 5-month-old boy in respiratory distress. He’s crying furiously and has normal tone and color. Thick, copious secretions are coming from his nose. He is tachypneic with diffuse wheezes, crackles, retractions, and nasal flaring. His respiratory rate is 70 and his oxygen saturation is 88% on room air. Would you order a chest radiograph (CXR) for this child?

CXRs are routinely obtained in adults with respiratory symptoms. Children, however, are more sensitive to radiation and can have multiple respiratory infections every year. CXRs can increase cost, length of stay, and may not always be necessary.

This post presents some guidelines on when (and when not) to get a CXR in pediatric patients.

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By Katrina Stime MD|2026-06-16T16:15:49-07:00May 27, 2020|PEM Pearls, Pulmonary, Radiology|

IDEA Series: Use of gamification through Clue: Pediatric Rash Edition

Emergency Medicine (EM) physicians care for anyone, with anything, at any time. This includes pediatric patients as well as adults. For those without advanced pediatric training, “sick kids” can be quite intimidating. Rashes in the pediatric population are often benign, but in rare cases they portend significant illness. Rashes are also frequent chief complaints; In 2015, there were 1,452,300 pediatric ED visits for “skin and subcutaneous tissue disorders” [1]. We sought to improve the teaching of pediatric rashes in our residency curriculum.

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By Peter Tomaselli, MD|2020-05-05T16:22:24-07:00May 13, 2020|Dermatology, IDEA series, Pediatrics|