Dr Franz Babl is one of the leading voices in PEM research in Australasia. In this video he takes us from bronchiolitis to asthma via head injuries and hyponatraemia on a tour of the highlights of 12 months of research in acute paediatrics
Speaker biography:
Franz Babl is a Paediatric Emergency Physician at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Head of Research at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and an Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne. He is the founding chair of PREDICT, the paediatric emergency research network in Australia and New Zealand, and an executive member of PERN, the global collaboration of emergency research networks. He is a chief investigator on several National Health and Medical Research Council grants.
Key points:
• Hypertonic saline has no role in ED but may have a role in hospitalised patients.
• There have been no reports of fatal arrhythmia associated with a single PO dose of ondansetron in children.
• Clinically significant traumatic brain injury is very uncommon (0.2%) in the context of isolated vomiting.
• Lorazepam and diazepam are equally safe and efficacious for treatment of status epilepticus and we are not missing out by not having lorazepam available in Australia.
• The use of 2% viscous lignocaine did not improve the oral intake of children with mouth ulcers.
• Inhaled magnesium is still struggling to prove its efficacy in treatment of acute asthma.
• Which IV bronchodilator is best is still up for discussion but one single centre trial from India showed magnesium to be more effective than terbutaline or aminophylline, in addition the magnesium had a lower side effect profile.
From the 2014 APLS Paediatric Acute Care Conference in Sydney.