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With the recent expansion of observational data in minor head injuries, we seem to be getting closer to a sensible decision-rule for when to do a cranial CT scan for a child with a minor head injury. How do we balance the radiation (and other) risks against the risk of missing an important intracranial injury? Several decision rules have been published - join us for a tour of their ups and downs!

Minor Head Injury (GCS 14-15) is a source of many Emergency Department visits. Do we really need to keep these kids under observation for several hours? In this PEMcast we discuss the assessment and management of Minor Head Injuries, and explore concussion, adjuncts to the GCS, and the origins of the 4-hour myth.

In severe acute asthma in children, nothing seems to work as quickly or as well as we'd like... so where's the evidence that these intravenous medications actually work? This time, we skip joyfully through some hand-picked papers informing the use of Magnesium, Ipratropium, Aminophylline, and discussthe upside and downside of intravenous Salbutamol (albuterol).

We see a LOT of asthma in children in our Emergency Departments - so we should know what to do when we are faced with severe or life-threatening asthma... But more often, we'll be dealing with mild and moderate asthma. Join us for an audio tour of this condition affecting up to 13% of Australian children.

30-second summary of the utility of blood tests, imaging and scoring systems for diagnosing appendicitis.

Common conditions like gastroenteritis and constipation can mimic more significant diagnoses such as appendicitis and intussusception, so how do we sort the plain old tummy-ache from the more serious causes? In this PEMcast we take a quick tour through the causes of abdominal pain in children.

Type and dose of steroid for croup is a quiet controversy that has been evolving over the last two decades or so. In this PEMcast we discuss the evolution of the evidence and the current state of play.

Croup is a potentially life-threatening upper airway obstruction that has a highly successful and satisfying treatment. The trick is to make sure you are dealing with croup, and not another cause of upper airway obstruction. In this episode we consider the basics of croup assessment and management - next time we will revisit the history of how oral steroids came to be the mainstay of treatment.

NICE Clinical Guidance CG47: Feverish Illness in Young Children. In this PEMcast we look at the evidence behind the expert consensus, and put ourselves in the position of the front-line clinicians who might benefit from the guidance offered by this document.

Fever is probably the commonest presenting complaint we manage in Paediatric Emergency Departments. The cause is usually an infection... but not always. The infection is usually a benign, self-limiting viral illness... but not always. Join us while we tease out the facts from the fiction, the myths and the mystery.

To bolus, or Not to bolus... that is the question. Actually, there are a few more questions too... How low is too low? What are the causes of neonatal hypoglycaemia? Any advances in research?

Exposure: getting a look at the whole patient, while preventing hypothermia. DEFG: it's easy to get distracted by a sick-looking kid or a serious injury, but: Don't Ever Forget Glucose!

Severe Head Injury: is any treatment proven to work? Join us as we explore the literature behind currently accepted treatments for serious traumatic brain injury, in particular the role for therapeutic hypothermia.

AVPU or GCS? What is the utility of the Glasgow Coma Scale in assessing neurologic status in sick or injured children? In this PEMcast, we cover the basics of assessing D for Disability, and delve a little deeper into the GCS and its Pediatric derivative scales.

Bronchiolitis: Effective treatment, at last? Nebulised Hypertonic (3%) Saline may reduce severity and hospital length of stay, if you believe a handful of small trials. In this episode we discuss 4 original papers related to Hypertonic Saline for bronchiolitis, as well as the reviews riding on these original works.