Bambini Newsletter   March 2015
Bambini News:  Sixth Practitioner on the Way

Even more help is soon to arrive! In January, we welcomed Olga Waters RPA-C to Bambini.    

 

Last month, as many of you are already aware, Jennifer Lown FNP-BC began seeing patients as well.  A Dutchess County native, Jen graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in physics in 2004 from Fordham University.  She was a Clare Booth Luce Scholar, National Science Foundation Scholar, and member of Alpha Sigma Nu, a Jesuit Honor Society.  

 

From there, she obtained a BSN with Honors in 2007 and a MSN degree with a concentration in the Family Nurse Practitioner field in 2011 from (click here to continue).

 

Next month, we will welcome Lauren Van Buren, a pediatric physician assistant who is finishing up a four year stint at Ridgefield Pediatrics.  More in our April newsletter. 

NY Vitamin K Law Update

About 3,000 are born annually at Vassar Brothers Medical Center; 800 delivered at Northern Dutchess. For the vast majority of these infants, their first medical treatment is an injection of vitamin K. It is typically administered by a nurse in the delivery room at about five minutes of age. Ouch!

 

On July 19, 2000, New York quietly enacted a law mandating vitamin K injection within an hour of birth for all newborns. Parents that balked at the shot were typically threatened with a phone call to CPS.

 

Four years ago, the NYS Department of Health posted this statement from Marilyn A. Kacica, MD MPH:

One of the keys to successful breastfeeding is to ensure that newborn babies are placed in their mother's arms or on the mother's chest, skin-to-skin, within the first half-hour after birth, and held there for at least 30 minutes.

 

She went on to acknowledge that bonding is difficult to do when a baby's leg in throbbing from the pain of a vitamin K injection. So, rather than give the shot at the traditional five minutes of age, more infants were getting it closer to the sixty minute mark - which was just barely legal.

 

Recently, a midwife brought a revision (quietly enacted last July) to the New York State sanitary code to our attention which, in a nutshell, extends the legal window for injection from sixty minutes to six hours. We see this as a step (albeit a small one) in the right direction.

 

Do you have thoughts on or personal experience with the vitamin K mandate? Share them on our Facebook page when this newsletter is posted later today.

Two Additional Vitamin D Benefits   

Chickenpox season is again approaching. We're hoping it won't nearly be as bad as last year, when several patients from our practice were hit so hard they ended up on anti-viral medication.

 

Interestingly, it has been noted that chickenpox strikes at a much earlier age here than it does in the tropics, where up to 50% of adults remain susceptible. This combination of variation with season and variation with latitude has led some to speculate that ultraviolet exposure (hence, vitamin D) may have a protective effect on varicella. Makes sense to us.

* * * * *

A few weeks ago, researchers from Turkey reported an association between serum vitamin D levels and the incidence of urinary tract infection in children.

 

Compared to a control group, the vitamin D levels of children with UTI were about 60% lower. And in kids that had a kidney infection (pyelonephritis), the levels were even lower. Their conclusion: vitamin D deficiency may put children at increased risk for UTI.

 

What do we think? For kids with recurrent UTIs or a recent kidney infection, we are going to be checking vitamin D levels!  

Project LifeSaver     

Last December, we were saddened to read about a little boy on the spectrum that wandered off from his grandmother's house. Among children in this age group, those with autism are more than four times more likely to wander from a safe environment.  

 

Not too long afterward, we received a request to write a script for a tracking device called PAL by Project Lifesaver. A resourceful parent had learned that Medicaid would apparently cover the cost for her autistic son.

 

The system includes a wristwatch incorporating a locator with lockable strap, portable receiver, strap release key, charger base, and power adaptor. It uses both RF and GPS technology. Parents are notified by SMS text or email if the perimeter is breached.

 

For a review of several other tracking devices for kids with special needs (Down Syndrome, ASD, PDD, etc.), please click here.  

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