Archive for safety
More than just COVID-19: Keeping kids safe this summer
Make sure your child remains safe both outside and indoors throughout the summer months by following these summer safety tips from Boston Children's.
Keep summer activities as safe as possible
As we move into a summer with COVID-19, many people are slowly venturing beyond their homes as businesses, beaches, and restaurants begin to open. But amidst the reopening, there are many questions about what types of behaviors are safe, and what might put you or your family at risk. While it’s important to remember that ... Read More
COVID-19 pandemic may put kids at risk for accidental poisonings
In the effort to keep kids safe from the new coronavirus, families could be unwittingly putting them at risk for another threat: accidental poisonings. According to the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, calls to Poison Control Centers during January through March 2020 regarding accidental disinfectant and cleaning exposures increased by 20 percent compared ... Read More
‘I’ve got your back’: Insight on social distancing from a Boston Children’s mom
How are you? If you’re feeling frayed with worry about pretty much every aspect of your life, then we’re in the same boat. Today’s new ‘normal,’ with ever-changing information to process and restrictions on our daily lives, leaves us all feeling physically exhausted by stress yet unable to rest and regroup. Instead, we feel a deep ... Read More
Coronavirus: Ensuring patient and staff safety during the pandemic
As the coronavirus and COVID-19 infection continues to spread through the Boston area, we’ve heard many questions and concerns from patients and their families about safety at Boston Children’s Hospital. We thought it might be helpful to answer the most commonly asked questions here. If you’d like more information about Boston Children’s response to COVID-19, ... Read More
Child access prevention laws spare gun deaths in children
Child access prevention (CAP) laws are on the books in half of U.S. states. They are meant to protect children from accessing firearms by holding a parent or guardian responsible for the actions or potential actions a child takes with a firearm. New research from Boston Children’s Hospital finds that U.S. states with CAP laws ... Read More
How do you implement change? Lessons from a QI project in the NICU
Kristen Leeman, MD, is Director of Quality in the Division of Newborn Medicine and Associate Medical Director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Boston Children’s Hospital. What if you were taught to do things a certain way, the way things were always done, and then a randomized clinical trial comes out supporting a different ... Read More
Natural language processing captures new insights on patient safety
Safety monitoring at Boston Children’s Hospital is getting even more thorough, thanks to natural language processing systems. Aided by machine-learning algorithms, these systems are capturing problems that clinicians didn’t explicitly flag through a safety reporting system, but documented in their notes. The net result is further opportunities to improve care. Natural language processing, or NLP, ... Read More
Beware probiotics in ICU patients
It’s become common for patients in the intensive care unit (ICU), both children and adults, to receive probiotics. Often, they are started at home to counteract diarrhea caused by antibiotics. There is also interest in using probiotics proactively in the ICU. A large multicenter clinical trial in Canada is testing whether probiotics would prevent ventilator-associated ... Read More
Going back to school with a chronic condition
Going back to school can be a time of excitement for many families: Your kids are looking forward to reconnecting with their friends — and you’re looking forward to watching them learn and grow. But for caregivers of children and teens with chronic or complex conditions, preparing for a new school year involves much more ... Read More