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Biomedical subjects

M L Katcher

Publications and source records attributed to M L Katcher.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Validating self reported home safety practices in a culturally diverse non-inner city population.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the validity of face to face, self reported responses to questions about the presence of safety devices and use of safety practices in the home aimed at preventing unintended injuries to preschool aged children. METHODS: The authors invited families with children enrolling in a medium sized Midwestern US community Head Start program to participate in a randomized study of home safety practices. Participation involved consenting parents (n = 452) completing an initial questionnaire during Head Start enrollment or in their home. Project staff conducted home inspections to confirm parental responses to 16 questions. Only inspections conducted within 34 days of questionnaire completion (n = 259) were included in the validation study. Parents were told that the home visit would assess the need for safety devices, but were not informed of the validation aspect of the study. RESULTS: Sensitivities were generally high for all 16 safety practices, whereas negative predictive value and specificity varied considerably. Positive predictive value was also high for most practices, and did not vary by ethnicity. Answers provided by parents in their home were different and more reliable than those provided by parents interviewed at school (p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Use of safety devices and practices by parents of preschool aged children reported in a face to face interview are generally reliable. Reliability increases if the interview is conducted in the home. Parents may also be more willing to report potential problems if they perceive they may receive corrective assistance.

Accident Prevention↗
PubMed2006

Use of the modified Delphi technique to identify and rate home injury hazard risks and prevention methods for young children.

OBJECTIVE: For children aged 1-5 years, the authors used the Delphi method to determine (1) the most important injury hazards in each area of the home; (2) the most important injury prevention behaviors; and (3) feasible and efficacious safety devices and behaviors to reduce injury risks. DESIGN: The authors used a modified Delphi method to prioritize home injury hazards for children 1-5 years of age. The Delphi method is an indirect, anonymous, iterative process aimed at achieving consensus among experts; in this study, the authors queried key informants electronically. Thirty four key informants, primarily from the United States, participated in at least one of the three rounds of questionnaires. Responses were submitted by email or fax. Participants identified, rated, and ranked home injury hazards and prevention methods. RESULTS: The overall response rate for each survey ranged from 82% to 97%. Initially, 330 unique hazards and prevention behaviors/devices were identified in seven areas of the home. The 126 home injury hazards were rated based on frequency, severity, and preventability of injury; and the 204 behaviors and devices were rated by efficacy and feasibility. These experts rated firearms and pools as the most significant hazards, and smoke alarms and safe water temperature as the most important preventions. CONCLUSIONS: The modified Delphi method of consensus was useful to prioritize home injury hazards and prevention methods for children under the age of 6 years.

Accident Prevention↗
PubMed2001

Lawn mower-related injuries to children.

Lawn mower-related injuries to children are relatively common and can result in severe injury or death. Many amputations during childhood are caused by power mowers. Pediatricians have an important role as advocates and educators to promote the prevention of these injuries.

Accident Prevention↗
PubMed2001

Firearm injury prevention: Internet resources for the health care provider.

This annotated bibliography examines public health and advocacy web sites related to firearm injury prevention. In 1998, on average, 1 child or adolescent died from firearm-related injuries almost every 2 hours, resulting in about 3800 youth deaths that year. Including adults, the death toll was 30,708. In this context, advocacy groups, consisting of health care professionals and community leaders, are reframing the concepts of firearm injury as a major public health issue. At the beginning of this new century, many of these advocacy groups are disseminating information over the Internet. Concurrently, professional medical organizations are encouraging health care professionals to stay updated on the latest health statistics, intervention techniques and legislative issues related to firearm injury prevention. In order to stay abreast of this rapidly changing information, physicians are utilizing Internet resources in a complimentary fashion to more traditional means of research (i.e. Medline). This article assists physicians in their online research of firearm injury prevention by providing a select list of effective, informative web sites. Despite the pitfalls of on-line searches, physicians with minimal time and effort can discover useful, complementary information on patient care, injury prevention and community advocacy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Child restraint systems: an update for physicians.

During the past decade, many advances have been made in motor vehicle safety restraint systems, and these advancements have brought changes in the recommendations for child passenger safety. In spite of these advances, a high morbidity and mortality rate continues to be attributed to improper or absent child restraint use. Child transportation safety is a complex issue. Lack of public awareness and incomplete laws contribute to the confusion. The solution involves professional and public education, further technological advances, and advocacy for improved legislation and regulation. Physicians have a unique opportunity to incorporate advice about proper restraint use into their daily practice; however, that requires a clear understanding of the current recommendations. Both the age and weight of the child determine the appropriate child restraint system. Understanding, practicing, and promoting these recommendations will save lives. This article reviews the current recommendations for proper child restraint while traveling in a motor vehicle.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed2001

Burn injury from products in the home: prevention and counseling.

Each year in the United States, fire and burn injury is responsible for a high degree of morbidity and mortality. In 1996-1998, Wisconsin's mortality rate from unintentional fire and burn injury (1.22 deaths/100,000 population) was similar to the average United States mortality rate for such injuries (1.40), and significant morbidity leads to hospitalization, invasive procedures, and psychological trauma. This article describes the common types of product-related burn hazards in the home, the injuries associated with these hazards, prevention measures, and the health professional's important role in burn injury prevention.

Accident Prevention↗
PubMed2000

Risk for speech disorder associated with early recurrent otitis media with effusion: two retrospective studies.

The goals of this two-part series on children with histories of early recurrent otitis media with effusion (OME) were to assess the risk for speech disorder with and without hearing loss and to develop a preliminary descriptive-explanatory model for the findings. Recently available speech analysis programs, lifespan reference data, and statistical techniques were implemented with three cohorts of children with OME and their controls originally assessed in the 1980s: 35 typically developing 3-year-old children followed since infancy in a university-affiliated pediatrics clinic, 50 typically developing children of Native American background followed since infancy in a tribal health clinic, and (in the second paper) 70 children followed prospectively from 2 months of age to 3 years of age and older. Dependent variables included information from a suite of 10 metrics of speech production (Shriberg, Austin, Lewis, McSweeny, & Wilson, 1997a, 1 997b). Constraints on available sociodemographic and hearing status information limit generalizations from the comparative findings for each database, particularly data from the two retrospective studies. The present paper reports findings from risk analysis of conversational speech data from the first two cohorts, each of which included retrospective study of children for whom data on hearing loss were not available. Early recurrent OME was not associated with increased risk for speech disorder in the pediatrics sample but was associated with approximately 4.6 (CI = 1.10-20.20) increased risk for subclinical or clinical speech disorder in the children of Native American background. Discussion underscores the appropriateness of multifactorial risk models for this subtype of child speech disorder.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1999

The hospital record of the injured child and the need for external cause-of-injury codes. American Academy of Pediatrics. Committee on Injury and Poison Prevention, 1998-1999.

Proper record-keeping of emergency department visits and hospitalizations of injured children is vital for appropriate patient management. Determination and documentation of the circumstances surrounding the injury event are essential. This information not only is the basis for preventive counseling, but also provides clues about how similar injuries in other youth can be avoided. The hospital records have an important secondary purpose; namely, if sufficient information about the cause and mechanism of injury is documented, it can be subsequently coded, electronically compiled, and retrieved later to provide an epidemiologic profile of the injury, the first step in prevention at the population level. To be of greatest use, hospital records should indicate the "who, what, when, where, why, and how" of the injury occurrence and whether protective equipment (eg, a seat belt) was used. The pediatrician has two important roles in this area: to document fully the injury event and to advocate the use of standardized external cause-of-injury codes, which allow such data to be compiled and analyzed.

Child↗
PubMed1999

American Academy of Pediatrics. Committee on Injury and Poison Prevention. Safe transportation of newborns at hospital discharge.

All hospitals should set policies that require the discharge of every newborn in a car safety seat that is appropriate for the infant's maturity and medical condition. Discharge policies for newborns should include a parent education component, regular review of educational materials, and periodic in-service education for responsible staff. Appropriate child restraint systems should become a benefit of coverage by Medicaid, managed care organizations, and other third-party insurers.

Automobiles↗
PubMed1999

American Academy of Pediatrics. Committee on Injury and Poison Prevention. Transporting children with special health care needs.

Children with special health care needs should have access to proper resources for safe transportation. This statement reviews important considerations for transporting children with special health care needs and provides current guidelines for the protection of children with specific health care needs, including those with a tracheostomy, a spica cast, challenging behaviors, or muscle tone abnormalities as well as those transported in wheelchairs.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Firearm injuries among children and adolescents: I. The facts.

Although injuries, both intentional and unintentional, are the major cause of death of children under age 19, the rate of death from motor vehicle injuries has fallen during recent years, while the rate of injury death from violence is increasing. This increase in death rate is a reflection of greater availability of handguns in our society and greater numbers of handgun-related deaths. This article examines the facts related to firearm death and injury among America's youth. Physicians need to be armed with the facts to lead the forces to remove handguns from the environment of children.

Accidents, Home↗
PubMed1994

Firearm injuries among children and adolescents: II. The physician's role in prevention.

Firearm-related injury is a major public health problem in the United States. Many children are exposed to handguns in their own homes and in homes where they play and visit. By use of anticipatory guidance and preventive counseling in the office, physicians can educate their patients about the danger to the family (especially to children) of having a gun in the home. If patients keep a gun at home, they should be counseled to empty it and lock it up. Physicians also have the opportunity to be strong public advocates for establishing policies that lead to increased gun safety in the community.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Chlamydia: management in the physician's office.

Chlamydia trachomatis infections constitute the most prevalent bacterial sexually transmitted disease (STD) in Wisconsin. In 1987, chlamydia became Wisconsin's most frequently reported STD. Several significant clinical syndromes have been associated with chlamydia infection. Prevention and control of STD needs to become a basic part of primary care within the private medical setting. Determination of the need to test a patient for chlamydia infection cannot be based solely on the presence of signs or symptoms. Physicians in private practice need to identify high-risk patients and selectively screen high-risk men and women, rapidly initiate treatment of chlamydia-infected patients and their sexual partners, and work closely with public health personnel as part of disease intervention.

Chlamydia Infections↗
PubMed1989

Liquid-crystal thermometer use in pediatric office counseling about tap water burn prevention.

Tap water scald burns are an important topic of injury prevention in pediatricians' offices. Consecutive pediatric clinic clients, randomized to two groups, received an informational pamphlet, a one-minute discussion about tap water safety, and a baseline questionnaire. The first group also received a liquid-crystal thermometer for testing maximum hot tap water temperature. One month later in a follow-up telephone interview (n = 503), the impact of the added thermometer on knowledge regarding scalding, temperature testing, and thermostat lowering was assessed. Approximately 80% of each group read the pamphlet. Reading the pamphlet was associated with greater temperature testing in the thermometer (T) group but not in the pamphlet only (P) group. Temperatures were checked by 46.4% of the T group but by only 23.0% of the P group (P less than .001). In the households in which the reported water temperature exceeded 54.4 degrees C (130 degrees F) and the water heater was accessible, 77.3% reported lowering the setting, independent of receiving the thermometer. The reliability of self-reported water temperature was assessed after 1 year by home visits. The use of relevant facilitating devices, such as a liquid-crystal thermometer, in-office anticipatory guidance efforts may increase behavioral compliance.

Accidents, Home↗