Over half of children admitted with sepsis had been seen by a clinician in the week before

The edition in brief

A US claims analysis of 6,928 paediatric sepsis admissions found 53.5% had a healthcare encounter in the preceding seven days: 34% an outpatient visit and 28% an emergency department visit. About two in five of those visits carried an infection-related diagnosis. Severity at admission did not differ by prior contact. A meta-analysis of 17 diagnostic studies found AI-assisted reading raised fracture detection sensitivity from 73% to 87% with specificity unchanged (95% vs 94%), with the largest gain, 21 percentage points, for junior clinicians. A meta-analysis of 10 studies found erector spinae plane block gave lower pain scores than intercostal nerve block after thoracic surgery or chest wall trauma at 1, 24 and 48 hours, without differences in opioid use or length of stay. A single-centre study of 20 severely agitated adolescents found dexmedetomidine infusion feasible as bridge sedation, though 45% still needed more sedatives. A target trial emulation published in June found continuing home beta-blockers on admission with suspected infection was associated with lower 90-day mortality (HR 0.77).