Challenges and Barriers to Providing Primary Care to Children of South Asian Origin: Pediatricians' Perspectives.

South Asian (SA) Americans have a high risk of metabolic and cardiovascular disease. Prevention efforts should start in childhood and should be culturally appropriate. We sought to understand the challenges and barriers that pediatricians face in providing care for SA children to inform professional education on culturally effective care. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a diverse sample (N = 17) of pediatricians. Challenges reported included feeding problems, inadequate physical activity, and mental health concerns. Communication barriers included parents' anxiety around feeding, influence of grandparents, stigma around mental health, and cultural communication gaps. Effective strategies included clear communication, a gradual approach, ensuring buy-in from grandparents, greater attention to family history, and improved cultural knowledge in pediatrician. Addressing feeding problems was the most mentioned challenge, which is especially concerning given the high chronic disease risk in SAs. Education on culturally appropriate strategies can equip pediatricians to effectively counsel SA families to address these risks.

Use of Social Psychology to Improve Adherence to National Bronchiolitis Guidelines.

OBJECTIVES: The American Academy of Pediatrics' bronchiolitis guidelines recommend against albuterol and corticosteroids for treating and chest radiographs (CRs) for diagnosing infants with bronchiolitis. However, high rates of nonadherence have been documented. Our objective was to improve guideline adherence in infants with bronchiolitis. METHODS: This quality improvement study was conducted in 1 urban academic pediatric primary care clinic caring for predominately minority and publicly insured children. We tested provider guideline education, display of guidelines in patient care areas, and monthly e-mails to all providers documenting deviation rates, with individual e-mails to providers who deviated. P-charts and interrupted time series analysis were used to estimate the effect of the intervention. RESULTS: There were 380 children <2 years of age with a diagnosis of bronchiolitis in the 16 nonsummer months preintervention and 417 in the 15 postintervention months. Rates of prescribed and administered albuterol declined from 45.7% in the baseline period to 13.7% in the intervention period and CR use dropped from a mean of 10.1% to 3.4%, both demonstrating special cause variation. Steroid use did not change significantly. In interrupted time series analyses, the intervention was associated with a significant decrease in albuterol use (P < .001) but not in CR or steroid use. Emergency department visits declined slightly but admissions for bronchiolitis were stable. CONCLUSIONS: Traditional quality improvement efforts coupled with social psychology techniques resulted in improved guideline adherence in outpatient bronchiolitis management. Additional study will help identify which techniques are most effective for increasing guideline adherence in cases of low-value care.