Faculty Bibliography

A physician talks about the problem of keeping patients waiting and those who leave without being seen. Doctors are aware that patients become anxious and irritated at being kept waiting but face a dilemma when they wish to give attention to all patients

To determine current opinions among experts in pediatric infectious diseases for treatment of bacterial sepsis, meningitis and acute otitis media, we polled directors of training programs in January, 1992. Responses were received from 69 centers in the United States and Canada. For initial treatment of presumed bacterial meningitis, the third generation cephalosporins alone or combined with ampicillin have become drugs of choice in all age groups. Most infectious disease programs include dexamethasone in the management of presumed bacterial meningitis for children 2 months of age and older. Third generation cephalosporins are also drugs of choice for presumed sepsis: combined with ampicillin for infants 5 weeks of age; used alone for children 5 months and 12 years of age. Amoxicillin remains the preferred drug for initial treatment of acute otitis media. The combination of amoxicillin and clavulanic acid is favored in the setting of an increased proportion of beta-lactamase-producing bacterial pathogens. Comparison of these results with polls in 1987 and 1989 indicates a shift in recommendations of therapy of presumed bacterial sepsis and meningitis from ampicillin alone or combined with an aminoglycoside or chloramphenicol to use of a third generation cephalosporin alone or combined with ampicillin

Drs. Barry Zuckerman and Deborah A. Frank have said that the loud public discussion of the effects of maternal crack use on the developing fetus is largely scaremongering, based on incomplete scientific evidence, and has disturbing political consequences. Zuckerman and Frank criticize the study that sounded the alarm. They point to another study, by a team including Ira J. Chasnoff, the president of the National Association for Perinatal Addiction Research and Education, in which children who were prenatally exposed to cocaine and then received good follow-up care did as well on developmental testing at the age of 2 as other children of similar socioeconomic class who were never exposed to cocaine. Frank started out as a fellow in developmental pediatrics at Children's Hospital. In the Failure to Thrive Clinic there she became aware of the developmental and behavioral effects of inadequate caloric intake in children

Perri Klass discusses the appeal of children's books about children who like to write. Cited as examples of child characters who fancy writing are Lucy Maud Montgomery's Emily of such books as 'Emily of New Moon' and Rebecca of Kate Douglas Wiggin's 'Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm,' and the special message such books seem to hold for girls who want to be writers is discussed