Acute Facial Nerve Palsy in Children: Gold Standard Management

Facial nerve palsy (FNP) is a common illness in the paediatric emergency department. Missed or delayed diagnosis can have a serious impact on a patient’s quality of life. The aim of this article is to give a recent overview of this pathology in terms of the causes, diagnosis, red flag symptoms, complementary examinations, treatments and follow-up in the child population. In cases of acquired, acute onset and isolated FNP, Bell’s palsy can be assumed, and no further investigation is required. In any other scenario, complementary examinations are required. Treatment depends on the aetiology. Corticosteroids, in addition to antiviral medication, are recommended to treat Bell’s palsy whenever a viral infection is suspected. However, the lack of randomised control trials in the paediatric population does not allow us to comment on the effectiveness of these treatments. In all cases, treated or not, children have a very good recovery rate. This review emphasises the necessity of randomised control trials concerning this frequent neurological pathology in order to better treat these children

Acute Facial Nerve Palsy in Children: Gold Standard Management

Facial nerve palsy (FNP) is a common illness in the paediatric emergency department. Missed or delayed diagnosis can have a serious impact on a patient’s quality of life. The aim of this article is to give a recent overview of this pathology in terms of the causes, diagnosis, red flag symptoms, complementary examinations, treatments and follow-up in the child population. In cases of acquired, acute onset and isolated FNP, Bell’s palsy can be assumed, and no further investigation is required. In any other scenario, complementary examinations are required. Treatment depends on the aetiology. Corticosteroids, in addition to antiviral medication, are recommended to treat Bell’s palsy whenever a viral infection is suspected. However, the lack of randomised control trials in the paediatric population does not allow us to comment on the effectiveness of these treatments. In all cases, treated or not, children have a very good recovery rate. This review emphasises the necessity of randomised control trials concerning this frequent neurological pathology in order to better treat these children

Early formative objective structured clinical examinations for students in the pre-clinical years of medical education: A non-randomized controlled prospective pilot study.

BackgroundThe value of formative objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) during the pre-clinical years of medical education remains unclear. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of a formative OSCE program for medical students in their pre-clinical years on subsequent performance in summative OSCE.MethodsWe conducted a non-randomized controlled prospective pilot study that included all medical students from the last year of the pre-clinical cycle of the Université Paris-Cité Medical School, France, in 2021. The intervention group received the formative OSCE program, which consisted of four OSCE sessions, followed by debriefing and feedback, whereas the control group received the standard teaching program. The main objective of this formative OSCE program was to develop skills in taking a structured medical history and communication. All participants took a final summative OSCE. The primary endpoint was the summative OSCE mark in each group. A questionnaire was also administered to the intervention-group students to collect their feedback. A qualitative analysis, using a convenience sample, was conducted by gathering data pertaining to the process through on-site participative observation of the formative OSCE program.ResultsTwenty students were included in the intervention group; 776 in the control group. We observed a significant improvement with each successive formative OSCE session in communication skills and in taking a structured medical history (pConclusionOur findings suggest that an early formative OSCE program is suitable for the pre-clinical years of medical education and is associated with improved student performance in domains targeted by the program