Office laboratory procedures, office economics, patient and parent education, and urinary tract infection.

This review provides an update on four important areas in office pediatrics: office laboratory procedures, office economics, patient and parent education, and urinary tract infection. Ball reviews new information about physician office laboratories, with updates on the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments, streptococcal pharyngitis, urinalyses, office stool examination, and information on Helicobacter pylori serology. Shapiro reports on office economics, highlighting new office technologies, physician operated networks, managed care, recent legislation, and the "cost versus quality" debate. Duncan provides a very thought provoking essay on parent and patient education, focusing on improving parenting skills. Wahl reviews the recent literature on urinary tract infections, with emphasis on host-bacteria interactions, diagnostic evaluations, pyelonephritis, renal cortical scarring, and long term follow-up of vesicoureteral reflux. We hope we have provided pediatricians with useful and practical information for their office practices.