Dear Colleagues,
We are delighted to announce the first issue of the Journal of Pediatric Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine in 2025. Our journal continues to strengthen its position in the ESCI index while fulfilling its mission to share rapidly developing scientific knowledge in pediatric emergency medicine and intensive care on national and international platforms. This issue features valuable research articles, case reports, and a protocol paper focusing on common clinical situations in pediatric emergency departments and parent education themes.
Our journal continues to take strategic steps to increase its international visibility, raise citation rates, and become included in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) in the coming period. To achieve this goal, we are increasing the number of international reviewers, strengthening our double-blind peer review processes, and particularly encouraging multicenter studies. Additionally, we plan to publish special issues focusing on current topics in pediatric emergency medicine and intensive care.
Global trends in pediatric emergency medicine and intensive care are shaping toward the standardization of evidence-based protocols, integration of digital health technologies, and increase the resilience of healthcare systems in the post-pandemic period. Our journal aims to contribute to the development of practices in our country in line with international standards, by closely following global trends.
First, I address management changes in our association. We extend our gratitude to Prof. Dr. Dinçer Yıldızdaş, who has made great efforts and contributions to our association for many years and has successfully represented the Turkish Society of Pediatric Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine on national/international platforms with his visionary leadership, and to the board of directors for their dedicated work and valuable contributions. During Prof. Dr. Yıldızdaş’s presidency, as in previous periods, our association and journal have achieved significant breakthroughs and progress in the scientific and academic field.
We wish to achieve success under the leadership of our association’s new president, Prof. Dr. Özlem Tekşam, and its board of directors. We firmly believe that under Prof. Dr. Tekşam’s leadership, with the support and collective energy of our community, our association and journal will develop further and increase their effectiveness in the national and international arenas. The support of all our members and readers is crucial for the future of our association and journal in this process.
We would like to share that the “1st Türkiye-Azerbaijan Pediatric Emergency and Intensive Care Conference” was successfully held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, on April 7-9, 2025. The relations between Azerbaijan and the Pediatric Emergency and Intensive Care Association were initiated in 2015 by the then president of the association Prof. Dr. Hayri Levent Yılmaz and our association member Prof. Dr. Nurettin Onur Kutlu with the support of TIKA, moreover, many Advanced Life Support in Children courses were organized in various rayons of Azerbaijan, and the foundation of these scientific relations was strengthened by meeting with the Azerbaijani Ministry of Health. Within the scope of our association’s strategy to develop international collaborations, scientific and education-oriented relations were initiated with Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2018 as a continuation of ongoing efforts, and significant contributions were made to the expansion of the regional pediatric emergency medicine network.
These mutual relations were developed by our association in the following years, and this year, they have been taken to a higher level at the conference, which was organized by the Turkish Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Intensive Care Association and the Azerbaijan Ministry of Health, TABIB, and supported by TIKA (Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency).
In addition, a meeting on “Management of Common Pediatric Emergencies” was successfully held in Sarajevo between October 4-6, 2024 in cooperation with the Turkish Society of Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Intensive Care and the Bosnia and Herzegovina Pediatric Society. This meeting is a continuation of the scientific cooperation with Bosnia and Herzegovina, which started in 2018 and has made significant contributions to the standardization of regional pediatric emergency medicine practices.
These international collaborations contribute to strengthening regional health capacity in line with the WHO recommendations on “Regional and Cross-Border Healthcare Collaboration.” We would like to thank Prof. Dr. Tanıl Kendirli, Prof. Dr. Nurettin Onur Kutlu, Prof. Dr. Dinçer Yıldızdaş, Prof. Dr. Murat Duman, Prof. Dr. Özlem Tekşam, the boards of directors of our association and all colleagues of our community who have contributed to this.
Scientific studies on this issue have made important contributions to the field of pediatric emergencies and intensive care. The study by Ulusoy et al. titled “The Value of Serum Ischemia Modified Albumin Levels in the Diagnosis of Pediatric Testicular Torsion and Prediction of Post-operative Testicular Atrophy” showed that serum IMA levels can be a valuable biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis prediction of pediatric testicular torsion. This finding is important for developing objective criteria for clinical decision-making.
The study by Özden et al. titled “Evaluation of Patients Presenting to the Pediatric Emergency Department with Influenza-like Illness During the 2009 Influenza A/H1N1 Pandemic” provided valuable data for the management of pediatric emergency departments and identification of risk groups during pandemic periods. The findings of this study can contribute to global efforts to increase the resilience of health care systems in the post-COVID-19 era.
The study by Akça et al. titled “Comparison of Parental Anxiety Levels in Febrile Seizures and Epileptic Convulsions” showed that parents experience similar levels of anxiety regardless of the type of convulsion. This finding provides important clues for developing parental education and psychological support strategies in clinical practice and is consistent with the current literature emphasizing the importance of family centered care models in pediatric emergency departments.
The study by Yıldırım et al. titled “Determining Factors Affecting Fever Management of Parents Bringing Their Children to the Emergency Department with High Fever” revealed the impact of parents’ education level, economic status, and place of residence on fever management. This study emphasizes the need to develop educational programs for parents living in rural areas with low educational levels and contribute to global efforts to reduce health inequalities.
The study by Dinçer et al. titled “Evaluation of Basic First Aid Knowledge Levels of Parents Presenting to the Pediatric Emergency Department” shows that the rate of parents receiving first aid training is low, and there is a significant relationship between education level and first aid knowledge. These findings reveal the need to expand community-based first aid training programs. This necessity directly aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals’ “Good Health and Well-being’ (SDG 3) target, particularly contributing to strengthening community capacity in reducing child mortality (SDG 3.2). The expansion of community-based first-aid training also serves the goal of education for sustainable development (SDG 4.7) by increasing health literacy.
This issue includes two important case reports. The case report by Döndü et al. titled “Use of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy to Prevent Amputation in Severe Crush Injury Due to Earthquake” demonstrates the effectiveness of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in a child injured during the February 6, 2023, Türkiye earthquake. This case contains important lessons for disaster medicine and pediatric trauma management, and provides a valuable contribution to the literature on the optimization of pediatric care in natural disasters.
The case report by Karabacak et al. titled “Successful Treatment of an Eleven-Year-Old Boy with Febrile Infection-Related Epilepsy Syndrome” shows the successful management of FIRES, which is rare and difficult to treat, using a multidisciplinary approach and ketogenic diet therapy. This case highlights the potential role of a ketogenic diet in the management of refractory epilepsy.
Finally, this issue includes a protocol paper titled “Status Epilepticus in the Critically Ill Pediatric Patient” prepared by our association’s working group. This protocol, prepared by Özcan et al., provides current and comprehensive information regarding the definition, classification, and treatment approaches for status epilepticus. This protocol, meticulously prepared by our association’s working group, is a valuable resource for ensuring standardization in clinical practice and will contribute to establishing a common language for the management of status epilepticus in pediatric emergency and intensive care units in our country.
The studies on this issue directly contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly the “Good Health and Well-being” (SDG 3). Parent education-focused research and community-based first-aid training recommendations are also aligned with the “Quality Education” (SDG 4) goal. Additionally, our case report in the field of disaster medicine provides an important contribution that can be evaluated within the scope of “Sustainable Cities and Communities” (SDG 11).
All studies in this issue of our journal make important contributions to the scientific knowledge in the field of pediatric emergency and intensive care. We thank the authors for sharing their valuable work with us. We are also grateful to our reviewers for their meticulous evaluation and to our editorial team for their dedicated work.
Your contributions as valued researchers are vital for increasing our journal’s impact factor and strengthening its international visibility. We kindly request you to submit your studies to our journal, cite published articles, and promote our journal on international platforms. We will continue to share the current developments and valuable research in our field with you.
Respectfully,
Prof. Dr. Hayri Levent Yılmaz
Editor-in-Chief
Journal of Pediatric Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine
