AAP Studies Marijuana Use by Pregnant and Breastfeeding Mothers

 

Marijuana Use
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Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva has spent the past 30 years serving in leadership and research roles at institutions throughout the country. In his current position, he serves as executive director of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the leading organization behind some of the most important research and advances in pediatric care.

A recent report issued by AAP urges continued research into the effects of marijuana use on childhood development. With more states legalizing the drug for recreational use, research indicates that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)–the mind-altering chemical found in marijuana–is transmitted to the fetus through the placenta and present in breastmilk as well. These facts are particularly germane given research that indicates women are using marijuana more and more to deal with the effects of morning sickness.

Researchers have found that THC can have a negative effect on neurotransmitters that are responsible for developing networks of nerve cells in children. More research is needed to study the overall effects of marijuana on childhood development, but even so, the AAP says that women should refrain from using the drug while pregnant or breastfeeding.

Common Causes of Sleeplessness in Children

 

Sleeplessness
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Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva functions as the associate executive director of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva also serves as a professor of pediatrics, critical care, and sleep medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Children can experience sleeplessness or insomnia for several reasons, ranging from unhealthy lifestyles to more complex medical issues. In certain cases, insomnia in children may be caused by something as simple as poor sleep habits that are upheld by parents or guardians. A child who does not exercise regularly and drinks soda or other caffeinated beverages shortly before bedtime will likely experience a myriad of sleep-related health issues. Similarly, children should have a fixed sleep schedule, as opposed to being able to go to bed and wake up at their discretion.

At the other end of the spectrum, a healthy, well-raised child can still experience difficulty sleeping due to underlying medical conditions, such as sleep apnea, also known as sleep disordered breathing (SDB). Children with severe SDB will develop obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a condition where most or all of the child’s airway becomes blocked, resulting in loud snoring, unrestful sleep, and constant waking up throughout the night.

Typical symptoms of insomnia in children include sudden mood swings, difficulty with memory, and a decreased attention span. If an adult believes a child is struggling with sleeplessness, he or she should discuss the situation with a trusted pediatrician.

The AAP’s Child Safety Seat Recommendations

 

Child Safety Seat
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Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva earned a bachelor’s in medicine from the Armed Forces Medical College in India and a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Texas School of Public Health. Now with more than 30 years of experience in medicine, Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva serves as the associate executive director of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.

Child safety seat recommendations have evolved over the years with the improvement of safety technology and insights gained from crash data. Recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics updated its list of recommendations for parents. Among these recommendations, the organization urges parents to place their infants and toddlers in rear-facing seats until they reach the maximum height and weight, rather than turning them around to front-facing when they reach a certain age.

When children grow enough to switch to front-facing seats, they should be secured by harnesses for as long as possible. Children can still be harnessed in most seats until they reach around 65 pounds. After that, parents should put them in booster seats that allow the normal seat belt to fit properly.

Once children are able to use the seat belt normally, without assistance from a booster, they should remain in the backseat until they are at least 13 years old.

AAP Recommends Flu Shots

 

Flu Shots
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A distinguished pediatric professional with more than three decades of experience, Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva serves as associate executive director of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). In this role, Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva helps support policy initiatives and oversees education outreach efforts.

The AAP recently recommended that children over the age of six months get the flu shot. The severity of the 2017-2018 flu season saw the most pediatric deaths in recent memory. Vaccination remains the most effective method of preventing the flu, a disease that can have a devastating effect on even healthy children. The vaccine also provides “herd immunity,” in that it protects immunocompromised children who, for one reason or another, can’t receive the vaccine.

Nasal sprays are also an option, though in recent years they have not been as effective against the A/H1N1 strain of the infection. In the interest of having the most people vaccinated, the AAP and the Centers for Disease Control support the use of nasal sprays, but still urge the shot as the most comprehensive form of vaccination.

To read the AAP’s recommendations in full, visit pediatrics.aappublications.org.

2017 MetaECHO Conference Brought Together Health Policy Experts

 

MetaECHO
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With several decades of experience working in health care, Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva serves as the director of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Department of Dubspecialty Pediatrics. Oftentimes asked to participate in panel discussions, Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva attended the international meeting for MetaECHO in New Mexico in April 2016.

Project ECHO, which stands for Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes, strives to strengthen best practice care for underserved people across the globe. Launched in 2003, it began as a way to meet local health care needs and has spread its mission to reach global proportions. Today, it boasts more than 130 hubs that attend to more than 65 diseases in 23 countries.

Each year, MetaECHO brings together health policy experts, academic leaders, and government officials to determine how to spread Project ECHO’s mission. The 2017 event saw more than 650 leaders in attendance during the four-day conference, which occurred from September 13 through 16 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They listened to a variety of panel discussions, some of which focused on pain management, type-1 diabetes, and mobilizing the ECHO model in cancer. Together, they hope to reach 1 billion lives by 2025.

Helping Babies Breathe Provides Newborn Resuscitation Training

 

Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva

Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva teaches pediatrics to medical students, residents, and fellows at the Medical College of Wisconsin and serves as the associate executive director of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Under Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva’s leadership, AAP provides professional education through its Division of Life Support Programs. Available life support programs include Helping Babies Breathe (HBB), a neonatal resuscitation course for limited-resource environments.

HBB guides pediatric professionals in the initial steps of neonatal resuscitation as outlined by The Golden Minute, HBB’s key concept. Babies should be breathing on their own or with ventilation assistance within one minute of birth. The Golden Minute describes the steps attendants must take to evaluate newborn babies and stimulate breathing within those critical 60 seconds. According to Pediatrics, the official journal of the AAP, the neonatal resuscitation techniques taught by HBB reduce mortality by up to 47 percent and fresh stillbirths by 24 percent.

Because techniques and principles taught by HBB are designed to meet the specific needs of limited-resource environments, Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) certification does not necessarily qualify an individual for HBB training and cannot serve as a substitution for HBB training. Additionally, the HBB curriculum uses a different educational methodology and incorporates mentorship and quality-improvement components.

Childhood Opioid Addiction Research Presented at AAP Meeting

 

AAP Meeting
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An alumnus of the Armed Forces Medical College in Pune, India, Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva also has also gone on to earn several other postgraduate degrees, including an MBA from the University of Houston-Clear Lake, a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Texas School of Public Health, and a juris doctor from Marquette University Law School. For the past five years, Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva has served as the associate executive director of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

At the recent AAP National Conference in Chicago, researchers presented alarming new statistics about opioid dependency among children in the United States. According to the data, each day more than 100 children arriving in emergency rooms nationwide test positive for opioid dependency or addiction. Researchers looked at data from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample database over a five-year period, from 2008-2013. They noted that in the final year of the study nearly 50,000 people under 21 reported to emergency rooms and were diagnosed with opioid addiction, up more than 17,000 from 2008.

One of the study’s authors, Veerajalandhar Allareddy, MD, MBA, said the average ER diagnoses 135 children with an opioid addiction each day. He hopes the data will push key stakeholders to develop programs and resources to help fight the growing epidemic.

AAP Warns of Golf Cart Dangers

 

Golf Cart Dangers
Image: aappublications.org

A graduate of the Armed Forces Medical College in Pune, India, Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva also holds numerous postgraduate degrees, including an MBA from the University of Houston, a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Texas, and a juris doctor from Marquette University. Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva now serves as the associate executive director of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

According to research from the AAP, there has been a rise in injuries among children using golf carts. The researchers examined data from Pennsylvania in their findings, which showed 108 kids under 18 over a 10-year period who suffered golf cart-related injuries.

Of those patients, one died, and 36 percent were required to be admitted to the ICU because of their injuries. Additionally, 76 percent of those injured suffered at least one bone break, with skull fractures the most common.

Although golf carts move slower than cars, they are still dangerous. The AAP now recommends that children under 16 not drive golf carts at all, while those 16 to 18 should drive carts no faster than 10 miles per hour.

AMA Hosts Its 15th Annual Research Symposium

 

American Medical Association
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A pediatrics professor and associate executive director of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva earned his DBA in management sciences at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva is also a member of the American Medical Association (AMA)

Representing physicians, resident physicians, and medical students, the AMA aims to further the impact of medicine and enhance public health.

Members are invited to attend AMA events, such as its Annual Research Symposium. Each year, the Research Symposium hosts a contest in which student, resident, and fellow members can present abstracts of their research. Member entries may come with a poster, are expected to be original, and must be submitted on or before the deadline. Only one entry is allowed per member. Contest judges will award 12 prizes to top-scoring entrants. Prizes range from $150 to $250. Physician members are encouraged to volunteer as judges and can learn more through the AMA’s website.

The annual AMA Research Symposium will be held on November 10, 2017, at the 2017 AMA Interim Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii.

How Light Affects Sleep

 

Sleep
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Associate executive director of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva earned his board certification in sleep medicine from the American Board of Pediatrics. In his professional responsibilities, Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disruptions.

Sleep can be disturbed by different factors, one of which is light. While bright light signals the body it’s time to get up, darkness encourages rest and sleep. Controlling light in the bedroom can contribute to a peaceful sleep.

Both sunlight and artificial light produce a chemical reaction that activates the body, causing a person to be awake, whether it is an appropriate time or not. Since the body is sensitive to light, using low wattage bulbs around bedtime and blocking any outside source of artificial light, like streetlights, may be necessary to have a restful sleep.

Light from electronic devices also keeps the body alert. The blue light from different displays slows down the release of melatonin, thereby keeping the body active. To avoid difficulty in sleeping, stay away from computer and smartphone screens for one hour before bedtime. Instead, read a book to prepare the body for the night.