UofL Pediatric Emergency Department fellow wins Willis Wingert Award

University of Louisville Pediatric Emergency Department fellow Alyssa Turner, M.D., has been awarded the Willis Wingert Award for her platform presentation at the American Academy of Pediatrics annual meeting. Her paper, "Impact of Ultrasound-Guided Femoral Nerve Blocks in the Pediatric Emergency Department," was deemed 2011's best pediatric emergency medicine research presented by a physician-in-training.

Turner and co-authors Keith Cross, M.D., and Michelle Stevenson, M.D., M.S., found that nerve blocks performed with ultrasound guidance can improve pain control in children with femur fractures, with the time between initial treatment and the next dose lasting two to three times longer than standard therapy. The technique is also shown to reduce adverse effects and decrease nurses' workloads.

Turner is in her second year of pediatric emergency medicine fellowship. She completed her pediatric residency at University of Louisville in 2008.

This is the fifth time in the past ten years that a University of Louisville Emergency Medicine trainee has earned this prestigious award.