Tag Archives: kids-health

Be informed – 100 vaccination resources

Frugal Nurse Posted on by

vaccination resourcesMore outbreaks of preventable diseases

Always disturbing to me are the news stories about outbreaks of deadly, crippling diseases—pertussis, measles, polio—that can be safely and effectively prevented by vaccination.

The most recent measles outbreak is in Ohio.

The Ohio outbreak, like ongoing outbreaks in California and elsewhere, has been linked to unvaccinated travelers bringing the measles virus back from countries where the disease remains common. In Ohio, all of

… read on

Protect your eyes from the sun

Frugal Nurse Posted on by

protect your eyes uv raysUV rays are damaging

Just as the sun can injure your skin, it can hurt the delicate tissue of your eyes, too.  Long-term exposure to UVA and UVB rays contributes to cataracts and age-related macular degeneration. Cataracts, cloudy areas on your eye’s lens, can be corrected with surgery; there is no effective treatment for macular degeneration, and it can lead to blindness.

Did you know you can also get … read on

Concussion assessment apps

Frugal Nurse Posted on by

There’s no such thing as a “mild” concussion

Last week I posted about first aid for concussions, which is important because head injuries in kids are a growing concern in the medical and public health communities.

Of particular importance is avoiding the potentially fatal “second impact syndrome”; if a young athlete suffers a “mild” concussion and then sustains another within a few weeks, “diffuse cerebral swelling, brain herniation, … read on

First aid for concussions

Frugal Nurse Posted on by

first aid for concussionsRest, rest and more rest

Gone are the days of the middle school football coach telling a player to “Shake it off and get back in the game.”

Proper first aid and treatment of concussions has received a lot of attention in recent years, mostly due to the alarming increase in long-term neurological problems—memory loss and behavior changes—suffered by professional athletes and soldiers.

Concerned pediatricians and public health officials … read on

Choosing Wisely for kids

Frugal Nurse Posted on by

choosing wisely for kidsEducating patients and doctors

I’m a big fan of the Choosing Wisely® campaign sponsored by the ABIM Foundation, a non-profit group established by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Why? Because the campaign’s objective is to reduce the number of unnecessary and potentially harmful (not to mention expensive) medical procedures being done in the US.

Choosing Wisely® aims to promote conversations between physicians and patients by helping patients choose

… read on

Outbreaks and vaccinations

Frugal Nurse Posted on by

childhood vaccinationsThe canary in the coal mine

Late last week I read the troubling story about a recent polio outbreak in Syria. Although polio, thanks to the vaccine, has been almost eradicated in most parts of the world, it is still present in several middle eastern countries.

Because of political unrest and the huge numbers of refugees fleeing to Europe, world public health officials worry about more widespread outbreaks of … read on

In favor of vaccines

Frugal Nurse Posted on by

vaccinesYes, I support vaccines. It’s simple.

Vaccines save lives. Vaccines prevent illness. Illness prevention saves money.

I was happy to see read an article this morning by mom and Huffington Post journalist JJ Keith also speaking up in favor of vaccines: “I’m coming out…as pro-vaccine”

Ms. Keith tells the story of two children, Jack and Clio, who are both being treated for leukemia and therefore cannot be vaccinated against measles. … read on

Is “screen sightedness” for real?

Frugal Nurse Posted on by

screen sightednessAn epidemic of nearsightedness?

A story making the media rounds this month is that more children and young adults are being diagnosed with myopia, or nearsightedness, and smartphones might be to blame.

I couldn’t find the actual study online, but it came out of the UK where a laser eye surgeon claims there has been a 35% increase in nearsightedness–screen sightedness, he has dubbed it–since 1997. He believes smartphones are … read on

Parents: Don’t insist on CT scans!

Frugal Nurse Posted on by

ct scans on childrenToo many CT scans ordered on children

This morning I read a post by a pediatric intensive care (PICU) doctor who admitted too many CT scans are still being given to children, despite recent evidence that radiation exposure from the scans carries a not insignificant future risk of cancer.

I posted about the results of this study a couple of months ago: Children are more “radiosensitive” than adults; … read on

Melatonin: Not a sleeping pill for children

Frugal Nurse Posted on by

The “sleep supplement”

I am a chronically poor sleeper, but I’ve never tried melatonin, the sleep supplement. I have many friends that swear by it, however.

It bothered me that I could never get a straight answer from any source about the therapeutic dosage—1 mg, 3 mg, 5 mg, 10 mg? Should it only be taken as needed, or is melatonin safe to take every night, forever?

As a supplement … read on