Utility of Abdominal Ultrasound in the Evaluation of Children With Blunt Trauma

The major goal of this project is to conduct a randomized controlled trial studying an initial evaluation strategy with abdominal ultrasound versus a strategy without abdominal ultrasound for the evaluation of children with blunt abdominal trauma. The proposal's objectives are to compare the following variables in those that randomize to abdominal ultrasound versus those that do not: 1. rate of abdominal CT scanning 2. time to emergency department disposition 3. the rate of missed/delayed diagnosis of intra-abdominal injury 4. the costs.