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Article Reviews & Commentary

Article Reviews by Thomas J. Mancuso, MD, FAAP

Guidelines for Referral to Pediatric Surgical Specialists.
Surgical Advisory Panel, Kloske A (lead author) Pediatrics 2002:110;187-191

These are guidelines for pediatricians to use as voluntary practice parameters in determining when to refer their patients to a pediatric surgical specialist. The guidelines are broken down to general surgery, otolaryngology, endoscopy, ophthalmology, urology, orthopedics, neurological surgery and plastic surgery. The guidelines are relatively specific, but generally use age, the type of problem and the presence of complicating medical conditions as the basis for referral to surgical specialists. There were representatives from the respective AAP sections on the panel as well as Dr. Constance Houck from the Section on Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine who all contributed to the document. Dr. Ann Kloske, from the section on surgery, is the lead author.

Commentary

These are also referral guideline to those of us who work with pediatric surgical specialists so it is a document with which we should be familiar. These are the result of an enormous amount of work, negotiation and compromise and the authors deserve much credit. Implementation of these guidelines will certainly advance the care of children.

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