Keystone: Exploring Pediatric Residents' Experiences in a Longitudinal Integrated Block.

PROBLEM: Residency training in many specialties has traditionally been divided into short, discrete, single-specialty rotations. Although providing the learner with in-depth exposure to a specific discipline, educators have challenged this rotational model, citing problems with patient and team continuity and maladaptive coping. Longitudinal integrated clerkships, adopted by many medical schools, offer an alternative model and have demonstrated improved outcomes for students related to patient-centeredness, advocacy, and integration with teams. Despite this, longitudinal integrated training in residency is rare. INTERVENTION: We developed a novel 3-month longitudinal integrated block for residents, called Keystone. The block combined 3 previously discrete, shorter rotations in developmental-behavioral pediatrics, advocacy, and emergency medicine into a longer and integrated experience. Within each week, the block utilized half-day sessions in the resident's primary care clinic, a new continuity Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics clinic where the resident worked with the same faculty preceptor and interprofessional team each week, shifts in the emergency department, and half-day sessions dedicated to clinic- and community-based advocacy activities. CONTEXT: The context was a single, large pediatric urban residency program based at 2 university-affiliated hospitals, an academic freestanding children's hospital, and academic safety net hospital. OUTCOME: Using a phenomenologic framework, we conducted interviews and a focus group discussion to explore residents' attitudes about the block; their perceptions regarding the block's impact on relationships with preceptors, peers, or patients; and the block's impact on learning and practice. Fourteen residents participated, 10 in interviews and 4 in the focus group discussion. Six themes emerged from thematic analysis: (a) the longitudinal nature of Keystone influenced professional relationships and as a result entrustment, (b) the longitudinal integrated design shaped engagement and learning, (c) flexibility promoted work-life balance and self-directed learning, (d) learners experienced time and space for professional identity development, (e) Keystone provided a unique opportunity to reclaim patient-centeredness, and (f) learners experienced important advantages and challenges related to the schedule. LESSONS LEARNED: The longitudinal integrated nature of Keystone provided a novel structure for addressing important yet challenging educational goals in residency, including enhancing relationships, facilitating entrustment and engagement, encouraging patient-centeredness, and emphasizing the importance of self-directed learning.

Trends in Homeless Children and Young Adults Seeking Shelter in a Boston Pediatric Emergency Department Following State Housing Policy Changes, 2011-2016.

OBJECTIVES: To describe a trend in emergency department (ED) use by homeless children and young adults before and after a state housing policy change in 2012 and to quantify financial and time costs to the health care system. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed de-identified electronic medical records of homeless children and young adults aged 0 to 21 years seeking shelter at an urban tertiary pediatric ED in Boston, Massachusetts, between September 1, 2011, and August 31, 2016. RESULTS: We identified 1078 visits for homelessness by 916 children and young adults. The median number of visits per month increased from 3 before the policy change to 17 after (P < .001). The total hospital charges were $578 351, with a net payment of $214 231, 97% paid by Medicaid. The average length of stay was 8 hours, totaling more than 8500 hours of occupancy. CONCLUSIONS: The number of homeless children and young adults who visited a pediatric ED increased significantly following a housing policy change, leading to substantial resource burdens on the ED and Medicaid. Public Health Implications. Policymakers should consider potential health care costs when designing housing policies and consider investing in housing to prevent unnecessary ED visits.

Child Health Needs and the Pediatric Gastroenterology Workforce: 2020-2040.

This article is part of an American Board of Pediatrics Foundation-sponsored effort to analyze and forecast the pediatric subspecialty workforce between 2020 and 2040. Herein, an overview of the current pediatric gastroenterology workforce is provided, including demographics, work characteristics, and geographic distribution of practitioners. Brief context is provided on the changing nature of current practice models and the increasing prevalence of some commonly seen disorders. On the basis of a rigorous microsimulation workforce projection model, projected changes from 2020 to 2040 in the number of pediatric gastroenterologists and clinical workforce equivalents in the United States are presented. The article closes with a brief discussion of training, clinical practice, policy, and future workforce research implications of the data presented. This data-driven analysis suggests that the field of pediatric gastroenterology will continue to grow in scope and complexity, propelled by scientific advances and the increasing prevalence of many disorders relevant to the discipline. The workforce is projected to double by 2040, a growth rate faster than most other pediatric subspecialties. Disparities in care related to geography, race, and ethnicity are among the most significant challenges for the years ahead. Changes to training and education, incentives to meet the needs of underserved populations, and new multidisciplinary models for health care delivery will be necessary to optimally meet the volume, diversity, and complexity of children with gastroenterological diseases in the years ahead.

Child Health and the Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Workforce: 2020-2040.

In 2022, 3.7 million children were born in the United States, of whom ∼600 000 received care from a neonatologist. The dramatic growth of the neonatal-perinatal medicine (NPM) workforce from 375 in 1975 to 5250 in 2022 has paralleled exploding clinical demand. As newborn medicine continues to push the limits of gestational viability and medical complexity, the NPM workforce must advance in numbers, clinical capability, scientific discovery, and leadership. This article, as part of an American Board of Pediatrics Foundation-sponsored supplement that is designed to project the future of the pediatric subspecialty workforce, features a discussion of the NPM workforce's history and current status, factors that have shaped its current profile, and some plausible scenarios of the workforce's needs and configuration in the future. In the article, we use an analytical model that forecasts the growth trajectory of the neonatologist workforce from 2020 through 2040. The model uses recent data on the number of neonatologists and clinical work equivalents per 100 000 children and projects future workforce supply under several theoretical scenarios created by modifying key baseline parameters. The predictions of this model confirm the need for a greater sustainable clinical capacity of the NPM workforce. Several future trends indicate that there may be geographic shortages of neonatologists, similar to expected shortages in other pediatric subspecialties. We do not address what an appropriate target for workforce size should be with the model or this article because the current and projected geographic variability in the NPM workforce and risk-appropriate care suggest that a uniform answer is unlikely.

Child Health and the Pediatric Pulmonology Workforce: 2020-2040.

There is concern as to whether the supply of pediatric pulmonology (PULM) subspecialists will be adequate to meet future demand. As part of an American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) Foundation-sponsored supplement investigating the future of the pediatric subspecialty workforce, this article assesses the current PULM clinical workforce and estimates the clinical workforce supply in the United States through 2040. The current workforce was assessed using ABP certification and Maintenance of Certification data, and a workforce supply model evaluating population growth, clinical effort, and geographic trends was developed after incorporating ABP data. Findings demonstrate that the number of pediatric pulmonologists has gradually increased over the past decade, and the ratio of subspecialists to children is likely to increase another 20% to 40% over the next 2 decades, although absolute numbers remain small. Geographic variation in access will persist in some regions. The proportion of women in the discipline has increased, but the proportion of pediatric pulmonologists from underrepresented in medicine backgrounds still lags behind the general population. Based on current trends, the PULM clinical workforce appears equipped to meet both population growth and the modest increase in demand for clinical services speculated to occur because of changes in the subspecialty's clinical portfolio. However, several factors could inhibit growth, and geographic maldistribution may continue to impact care access. Efforts to address variation in access and demographic diversity in the field are warranted. This article concludes by discussing the training, clinical practice, policy, and future workforce research implications of the data presented.

Child Health Needs and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Workforce: 2020-2040.

Pediatric infectious diseases (PID) physicians prevent and treat childhood infections through clinical care, research, public health, education, antimicrobial stewardship, and infection prevention. This article is part of an American Board of Pediatrics Foundation-sponsored supplement investigating the future of the pediatric subspecialty workforce. The article offers context to findings from a modeling analysis estimating the supply of PID subspecialists in the United States between 2020 and 2040. It provides an overview of children cared for by PID subspecialists, reviews the current state of the PID workforce, and discusses the projected headcount and clinical workforce equivalents of PID subspecialists at the national, census region, and census division levels over this 2-decade period. The article concludes by discussing the education and training, clinical practice, policy, and research implications of the data presented. Adjusting for population growth, the PID workforce is projected to grow more slowly than most other pediatric subspecialties and geographic disparities in access to PID care are expected to worsen. In models considering alternative scenarios, decreases in the number of fellows and time spent in clinical care significantly affect the PID workforce. Notably, model assumptions may not adequately account for potential threats to the PID workforce, including a declining number of fellows entering training and the unknown impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and future emerging infections on workforce attrition. Changes to education and training, clinical care, and policy are needed to ensure the PID workforce can meet the future needs of US children.

Projecting the Future Pediatric Subspecialty Workforce: Summary and Recommendations.

This article summarizes the findings of a Pediatrics supplement addressing the United States workforce for 15 pediatric subspecialties. It includes results from a microsimulation model projecting supply through 2040; growth is forecasted to be uneven across the subspecialties with worsening geographic maldistribution. Although each subspecialty has unique characteristics, commonalities include (1) the changing demographics and healthcare needs of children, including mental health; (2) poor outcomes for children experiencing adverse social drivers of health, including racism; and (3) dependence on other subspecialties. Common healthcare delivery challenges include (1) physician shortages for some subspecialties; (2) misalignment between locations of training programs and subspecialists and areas of projected child population growth; (3) tension between increasing subsubspecialization to address rare diseases and general subspecialty care; (4) the need to expand clinical reach through collaboration with other physicians and advanced practice providers; (5) the lack of parity between Medicare, which funds much of adult care, and Medicaid, which funds over half of pediatric subspecialty care; and (6) low compensation of pediatric subspecialists compared with adult subspecialists. Overall, subspecialists identified the lack of a central authority to monitor and inform child healthcare provided by pediatric subspecialists as a challenge. Future research on the pediatric subspecialty workforce and the children it serves will be necessary to ensure these children's needs are met. Together, these articles provide overarching and subspecialty-specific recommendations to improve training, recruitment, and retention of a diverse workforce, implement innovative models of care, drive policy changes, and advise future research.

Child Health and the US Pediatric Subspecialty Workforce: Planning for the Future.

This article opens a multi-article Pediatrics supplement that provides a rigorous analysis of the projected pediatric subspecialty workforce in the United States. Congenital variations, epigenetics, exposures, lifestyle, preventive care, and medical interventions from conception through young adulthood set the stage for health and wellbeing in adulthood. Although care provided by pediatric subspecialists is associated with better outcomes and lower costs compared with adult providers, the authors of recent articles in the lay and medical literature have questioned the capacity of pediatric subspecialists to meet children's health care needs. This article highlights that, despite numerous advances in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, the last decade has witnessed increasing numbers of children with acute or chronic physical and mental health disorders, including medical complexity, obesity, type 2 diabetes, anxiety, depression, and suicidality, all of which are exacerbated by poverty, racism, and other social drivers of health. In this article, we then describe the variability in the demographics, practice characteristics, and geographic distribution of the 15 core pediatric subspecialties certified by the American Board of Pediatrics. We then discuss the rationale and approach to the development of a pediatric subspecialty workforce model that forecasts subspecialist supply from 2020 to 2040 for 14 subspecialties at the national and subnational levels (not including the newest subspecialty, pediatric hospital medicine), accounting for US Census Bureau child population projections. The model does not account for the unique physical and mental needs of individual children, nor does it address the increasingly precarious commitment to, and financing of, pediatric subspecialty care in the US health care system impacting market demand.

Implementing Social Risk Screening and Referral to Resources in the NICU.

OBJECTIVE: Social risk screening is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, but this practice is underutilized in NICUs. To address this gap in social care, we aimed to increase rates of: (1) systematic social risk screening and (2) connection with community resources, each to ≥50% over a 14-month period. METHODS: We conducted a quality improvement initiative from November 2020 to January 2022. We adapted a screening tool and used Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles to integrate screening and referral to resources into clinical workflow. Primary outcome measures included the percentage of (1) families screened and (2) connection with resources. We examined screening by maternal race/ethnicity and primary language. Process measures were (1) time from admission to screening and (2) percentage of referrals provided to families reporting unmet needs and requesting assistance. We used statistical process control to assess change over time and χ2 tests to compare screening by race/ethnicity and language. RESULTS: The rates of systematic screening increased from 0% to 49%. Among 103 families screened, 84% had ≥1, and 64% had ≥2 unmet needs, with a total of 221 needs reported. Education, employment, transportation, and food were the most common needs. Screening rates did not vary by race/ethnicity or language. Among families requesting assistance, 98% received referrals. The iterative improvement of a written resource guide and community partnerships led to increased rates of connection with resources from 21% to 52%. CONCLUSION: Leveraging existing staff, our social risk screening and referral intervention built the capacity to address the high burden of unmet needs among NICU families.

Imported pediatric malaria presenting to an urban pediatric emergency department: a case series.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to identify common presenting signs, symptoms, and laboratory findings of imported pediatric malaria presenting to a US pediatric emergency department (ED). METHODS: This is a retrospective chart review of all patients presenting to an urban pediatric ED between July 1, 2004, and July 1, 2011, who were assigned an ED or inpatient discharge diagnosis of "malaria" and had a confirmed blood smear demonstrating plasmodium species. RESULTS: There were 21 patients included in this study (median age, 12 years; range, 19 months to 22 years). A total of 15 (71%) were infected with Plasmodium falciparum subtype of malaria. Patients presented to the ED between 1 day and 2 years after return from a malaria-endemic area. All 21 patients (100%) reported a history of fever, but only 9 (43%) had a fever documented in the ED. Of the patients, 14 (66%) complained of headache, 13 (62%) complained of anorexia, 11 (52%) complained of chills, and 10 (48%) complained of abdominal pain. The most common sign was tachycardia, present in 18 patients (86%). Consistent with other studies, thrombocytopenia was the most frequently observed laboratory abnormality, present in 16 patients (76%). CONCLUSIONS: The presenting signs and symptoms of imported pediatric malaria are nonspecific and inconsistently present, underscoring the importance of maintaining a high index of suspicion for this diagnosis in any patient returning from a malaria-endemic region.