training Archives

Successful autism and ADHD tools go digital

September 25, 2022

A team is working to implement a successful, evidence-based online training and tele-support system for the Unstuck and On Target (UOT) program.

A team from Children’s National Hospital, Children’s Hospital Colorado and The Institute for Innovation and Implementation at the University of Maryland, Baltimore is working to implement a successful, evidence-based online training and tele-support system for the Unstuck and On Target (UOT) program. The program is now available for free to any parent or educator who needs it.

What is it?

Since 2020, this team has piloted UOT video training with 293 school-based staff across 230 elementary schools in Colorado and Virginia. The work follows a related PCORI-funded research project, Improving Classroom Behaviors Among Students with Symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, led by Children’s National and Children’s Colorado researchers. That project demonstrated the effectiveness of UOT at improving the executive functioning – or self-regulation skills including flexible thinking, planning and emotional-control – of school-aged children in Title 1 schools. The training focuses on the executive function of elementary school-aged children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

In addition to creating more accessible training for educators, the team created short, free videos highlighting executive functioning tips and tricks that parents can employ at home. These videos, evaluated by 100 parents and revised based on their input, are now available to parents nationwide.

The availability of this training is possible due to a $2 million contract awarded to Children’s Hospital Colorado’s (Children’s Colorado) Pediatric Mental Health Institute and Children’s National by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) in 2020.

Why it matters

There are many children, including those in low-income or rural settings, that don’t have access to clinics that offer services to support executive functioning skills, such as planning and flexibility, that they need. But all children have access to a school. Now, UOT training is online and accessible so any school with internet access can offer UOT where school staff (including special educators, teachers, paraprofessionals and counselors) can actively teach students how to plan, set goals and be flexible. The team’s next goal is to create a comparable video training for the high school version of UOT.

“These free, accessible and effective tools for improving children’s social-emotional development are building skills that are more important today than ever,” said Lauren Kenworthy, Ph.D., director of the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders at Children’s National. “The vast majority (96%) of caregivers and educators found these tools useful and relevant. That feedback is a testament to our team’s efforts to make sure these resources were created and validated as usable, approachable and actionable for everyone who needs them.”

More information

For educators – Find resources on Unstuck and On Target, including links to the free trainings, tips and tricks and FAQs. Teachers can also receive continuing education credits (CEUs) for this training.

For parents – Find resources on Unstuck and On Target’s parent training videos

For schools – Add free Unstuck and On Target parent videos to your school district’s relevant websites, landing pages and newsletters.

Increasing access to autism spectrum disorder services through enhanced training

March 10, 2022

Hands holding letters that spell autism Many service providers struggle to keep pace with advances in autism-specific knowledge and tend to refer children to autism specialty clinics when the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is in question. Unfortunately, it is in these settings where children most often wait for months or, worse, experience barriers to accessing any care at all. This has resulted in an access crisis for children and families with ASD concerns contributing to delays in diagnosis and treatment, particularly for children of color and for under-resourced families. Service disruptions and challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic have only added to delays. As the need for autism-related services continues to grow, innovative models must be used to enhance competence among frontline medical, behavioral health and community-based providers who currently serve these children and families on a regular basis.

Children’s National Hospital has initiated a number of endeavors focused on increasing access to ASD services through enhanced training experiences, mentorship of allied mental health and frontline professionals and utilization of multidisciplinary approaches. These approaches enhance the skills and knowledge of treatment providers, which allows them to accurately address the needs of autistic patients while they await more comprehensive evaluations and sometimes reduce the need for additional evaluation. The following are efforts currently underway.

Virtual ECHO (Extension Community Healthcare Outcomes) Autism Clinics

The Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders (CASD) is hosting virtual ECHO (Extension Community Healthcare Outcomes) Autism Clinics aimed at building autism knowledge and competencies amongst community providers by creating shared learning forums with a multidisciplinary group of autism specialists for dissemination of knowledge and mentorship.

Clinics run in 6-month sessions on a bimonthly basis and target professionals in medical, community and educational/early intervention settings. There is no requirement for prior autism-related knowledge or training. The emphasis in learning stems from case-based discussions primarily, along with targeted autism specific didactics.

We have found good satisfaction with the program overall, as well as self-report of gains in ASD-specific knowledge and care competencies as a result of participation in ECHO. To date, CASD’s ECHO Autism program has reached 290 professionals and trainees serving autistic children and their families.

Integration of autism evaluations into primary care sites

The Community Mental Health (CMH) CORE (Collaboration, Outreach, Research, Equity) within the Children’s National Hospital Child Health Advocacy Institute (CHAI) has been working collaboratively with several other divisions, including CASD, to integrate autism evaluations into primary care sites for young children with high concern about ASD. We aim to increase capacity and access to autism services by training embedded psychologists in primary care settings in autism diagnostics.

By increasing behavioral health provider capacity and integrating in primary care, this clinic has been able to drastically decrease waits for ASD services by months to years. Families served by the program were predominately Black (81%) or Latinx (10%), and most (87%) had public insurance. Nearly one third (32%) were not primary English speakers. An ASD diagnosis was provided in 68% of all cases.

All referring PCPs surveyed indicated that they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the program, that they “strongly like the integrated clinic model,” and that the program “is increasing equitable access to ASD. Currently, CHAI-supported ASD-focused embedded clinics in primary care have served 94 children and their families.

Simulation curriculum for emergency medicine trainees in India

September 23, 2019

“It is essential to equip emergency physicians in India with these necessary skills so they can provide the best acute care for children and help the country overcome its burden of pediatric illness. This project focuses on simulation training because it is a very effective way to practice clinical and communication skills,” says Tania Ahluwalia, M.D., FAAP.

India has a high burden of pediatric illness, and close to 1 million children die each year.

Despite those staggering public health challenges, pediatric emergency medicine training remains in its infancy in India. Tania Ahluwalia, M.D., FAAP, associate director of Global Health Programs, Division of Emergency Medicine and Trauma Services at Children’s National Hospital has been working with the Ronald Reagan Institute of Emergency Medicine to help address that training gap.

“It is essential to equip emergency physicians in India with these necessary skills so they can provide the best acute care for children and help the country overcome its burden of pediatric illness. This project focuses on simulation training because it is a very effective way to practice clinical and communication skills,” Dr. Ahluwalia says.

Each October a team led by Dr. Ahluwalia teaches Pediatric Emergency Medicine modules in India based on a three-year curriculum. In October 2019, they will focus on neonatology. And thanks to a 2019-2020 Global Health Initiative Exploration in Global Health Award presented during Research and Education Week at Children’s National, over two weeks Dr. Ahluwalia will visit various cities in India with a team that includes:

Kaitlyn Boggs, M.D., a second-year pediatric resident at Children’s National
Camilo Gutierrez, M.D., Children’s National Emergency Medicine and Trauma Services
Simone Lawson, M.D., Children’s National Emergency Medicine and Trauma Services
Shobhit Jain, Kansas City
Shiva Kalidindi, Nemours Children’s Hospital
Manu Madhok, Minneapolis

For the study, about 80 trainees participating in postgraduate emergency medicine training programs in India will practice skills, such as intubating a patient, using the same medical equipment and mannequins of the same size as pediatric patients. The trainees will review several pediatric emergency medicine cases that were developed based on a needs assessment at partner programs in India. First, visiting faculty members will watch videos developed by Dr. Ahluwalia, Michael Hrdy, M.D., and Rachael Batabyal, M.D., and will review literature on how to conduct simulation in a developing country.

Faculty teaching neonatology, use of simulation modules and other pediatric emergency medicine training topics will visit Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Dehradun, Delhi, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikhode, Madurai and Mumbai. (Kate Douglass, M.D., of the George Washington University and Serkan Toy, Ph.D., an educational psychologist at John Hopkins University, have been heavily involved in this project but will not travel to India in October.)

“My passion is global education so, for me, this project will be a success if we improve the trainees’ comfort, knowledge and skill at providing patient care after undergoing this simulation-based curriculum. We also want to improve our faculty’s capacity to teach through these simulation modules, so there are definitely learning opportunities for both U.S. teachers and Indian trainees,” she adds.

WATCH: Introduction to simulation training
WATCH: Performing a simulation learning event
WATCH: Debriefing tools

Financial support for research described in this post was provided by the 2019-2020 Global Health Initiative Exploration in Global Health Award.

Research and Education Week honors innovative science

April 19, 2019

Billie Lou Short, M.D., received the Ninth Annual Mentorship Award in Clinical Science.

People joke that Billie Lou Short, M.D., chief of Children’s Division of Neonatology, invented extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, known as ECMO for short. While Dr. Short did not invent ECMO, under her leadership Children’s National was the first pediatric hospital to use it. And over decades Children’s staff have perfected its use to save the lives of tiny, vulnerable newborns by temporarily taking over for their struggling hearts and lungs. For two consecutive years, Children’s neonatal intensive care unit has been named the nation’s No. 1 for newborns by U.S. News & World Report. “Despite all of these accomplishments, Dr. Short’s best legacy is what she has done as a mentor to countless trainees, nurses and faculty she’s touched during their careers. She touches every type of clinical staff member who has come through our neonatal intensive care unit,” says An Massaro, M.D., director of residency research.

For these achievements, Dr. Short received the Ninth Annual Mentorship Award in Clinical Science.

Anna Penn, M.D., Ph.D., has provided new insights into the central role that the placental hormone allopregnanolone plays in orderly fetal brain development, and her research team has created novel experimental models that mimic some of the brain injuries often seen in very preterm babies – an essential step that informs future neuroprotective strategies. Dr. Penn, a clinical neonatologist and developmental neuroscientist, “has been a primary adviser for 40 mentees throughout their careers and embodies Children’s core values of Compassion, Commitment and Connection,” says Claire-Marie Vacher, Ph.D.

For these achievements, Dr. Penn was selected to receive the Ninth Annual Mentorship Award in Basic and Translational Science.

The mentorship awards for Drs. Short and Penn were among dozens of honors given in conjunction with “Frontiers in Innovation,” the Ninth Annual Research and Education Week (REW) at Children’s National. In addition to seven keynote lectures, more than 350 posters were submitted from researchers – from high-school students to full-time faculty – about basic and translational science, clinical research, community-based research, education, training and quality improvement; five poster presenters were showcased via Facebook Live events hosted by Children’s Hospital Foundation.

Two faculty members won twice: Vicki Freedenberg, Ph.D., APRN, for research about mindfulness-based stress reduction and Adeline (Wei Li) Koay, MBBS, MSc, for research related to HIV. So many women at every stage of their research careers took to the stage to accept honors that Naomi L.C. Luban, M.D., Vice Chair of Academic Affairs, quipped that “this day is power to women.”

Here are the 2019 REW award winners:

2019 Elda Y. Arce Teaching Scholars Award
Barbara Jantausch, M.D.
Lowell Frank, M.D.

Suzanne Feetham, Ph.D., FAA, Nursing Research Support Award
Vicki Freedenberg, Ph.D., APRN, for “Psychosocial and biological effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention in adolescents with CHD/CIEDs: a randomized control trial”
Renee’ Roberts Turner for “Peak and nadir experiences of mid-level nurse leaders”

2019-2020 Global Health Initiative Exploration in Global Health Awards
Nathalie Quion, M.D., for “Latino youth and families need assessment,” conducted in Washington
Sonia Voleti for “Handheld ultrasound machine task shifting,” conducted in Micronesia
Tania Ahluwalia, M.D., for “Simulation curriculum for emergency medicine,” conducted in India
Yvonne Yui for “Designated resuscitation teams in NICUs,” conducted in Ghana
Xiaoyan Song, Ph.D., MBBS, MSc, “Prevention of hospital-onset infections in PICUs,” conducted in China

Ninth Annual Research and Education Week Poster Session Awards

Basic and Translational Science
Faculty: Adeline (Wei Li) Koay, MBBS, MSc, for “Differences in the gut microbiome of HIV-infected versus HIV-exposed, uninfected infants”
Faculty: Hayk Barseghyan, Ph.D., for “Composite de novo Armenian human genome assembly and haplotyping via optical mapping and ultra-long read sequencing”
Staff: Damon K. McCullough, BS, for “Brain slicer: 3D-printed tissue processing tool for pediatric neuroscience research”
Staff: Antonio R. Porras, Ph.D., for “Integrated deep-learning method for genetic syndrome screening using facial photographs”
Post docs/fellows/residents: Lung Lau, M.D., for “A novel, sprayable and bio-absorbable sealant for wound dressings”
Post docs/fellows/residents: Kelsey F. Sugrue, Ph.D., for “HECTD1 is required for growth of the myocardium secondary to placental insufficiency”
Graduate students: Erin R. Bonner, BA, for “Comprehensive mutation profiling of pediatric diffuse midline gliomas using liquid biopsy”
High school/undergraduate students: Ali Sarhan for “Parental somato-gonadal mosaic genetic variants are a source of recurrent risk for de novo disorders and parental health concerns: a systematic review of the literature and meta-analysis”

Clinical Research
Faculty: Amy Hont, M.D., for “Ex vivo expanded multi-tumor antigen specific T-cells for the treatment of solid tumors”
Faculty: Lauren McLaughlin, M.D., for “EBV/LMP-specific T-cells maintain remissions of T- and B-cell EBV lymphomas after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation”

Staff: Iman A. Abdikarim, BA, for “Timing of allergenic food introduction among African American and Caucasian children with food allergy in the FORWARD study”
Staff: Gelina M. Sani, BS, for “Quantifying hematopoietic stem cells towards in utero gene therapy for treatment of sickle cell disease in fetal cord blood”
Post docs/fellows/residents: Amy H. Jones, M.D., for “To trach or not trach: exploration of parental conflict, regret and impacts on quality of life in tracheostomy decision-making”
Graduate students: Alyssa Dewyer, BS, for “Telemedicine support of cardiac care in Northern Uganda: leveraging hand-held echocardiography and task-shifting”
Graduate students: Natalie Pudalov, BA, “Cortical thickness asymmetries in MRI-abnormal pediatric epilepsy patients: a potential metric for surgery outcome”
High school/undergraduate students: Kia Yoshinaga for “Time to rhythm detection during pediatric cardiac arrest in a pediatric emergency department”

Community-Based Research
Faculty: Adeline (Wei Li) Koay, MBBS, MSc, for “Recent trends in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area”
Staff: Gia M. Badolato, MPH, for “STI screening in an urban ED based on chief complaint”
Post docs/fellows/residents: Christina P. Ho, M.D., for “Pediatric urinary tract infection resistance patterns in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area”
Graduate students: Noushine Sadeghi, BS, “Racial/ethnic disparities in receipt of sexual health services among adolescent females”

Education, Training and Program Development
Faculty: Cara Lichtenstein, M.D., MPH, for “Using a community bus trip to increase knowledge of health disparities”
Staff: Iana Y. Clarence, MPH, for “TEACHing residents to address child poverty: an innovative multimodal curriculum”
Post docs/fellows/residents: Johanna Kaufman, M.D., for “Inpatient consultation in pediatrics: a learning tool to improve communication”
High school/undergraduate students: Brett E. Pearson for “Analysis of unanticipated problems in CNMC human subjects research studies and implications for process improvement”

Quality and Performance Improvement
Faculty: Vicki Freedenberg, Ph.D., APRN, for “Implementing a mindfulness-based stress reduction curriculum in a congenital heart disease program”
Staff: Caleb Griffith, MPH, for “Assessing the sustainability of point-of-care HIV screening of adolescents in pediatric emergency departments”
Post docs/fellows/residents: Rebecca S. Zee, M.D., Ph.D., for “Implementation of the Accelerated Care of Torsion (ACT) pathway: a quality improvement initiative for testicular torsion”
Graduate students: Alysia Wiener, BS, for “Latency period in image-guided needle bone biopsy in children: a single center experience”

View images from the REW2019 award ceremony.

Guiding a new path for emergency medical care training

May 19, 2018

Susannah Jenkins, PA-C, guides a new training program for physician assistants.

Susannah Jenkins, PA-C, lead physician assistant with the emergency medicine and trauma services department at Children’s National Health System, celebrates three years at Children’s National this September and she’s glad she transitioned from an adult surgical environment to the fast-paced, dynamic environment of working in pediatric emergency medicine (PEM).

With 25 years of health care experience, 13 years as a physician assistant and 12 years as a nurse, Jenkins has worked in a variety of settings, inclusive of adult neurosurgery and high-risk OBGYN care.

“My passion is helping everyone heal, but I particularly enjoy working with children,” notes Jenkins. “Children have an extraordinary ability to bounce back after a fall and recover from a bout of seasonal, flu-like illness. A dose of medication or the correct diagnosis, paired with the right treatment, can sometimes make everything better, almost instantaneously, which is one of the most rewarding parts of working in this field. You get to help and see children heal.”

In addition to providing treatment for a range of pediatric patients, Jenkins works with Deena Berkowitz, M.D., M.P.H., a pediatric emergency medicine physician and assistant professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at Children’s National and the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, to train physician assistants, or PAs, to respond to urgent care needs within a Level 1 trauma center. With the encouragement and guidance of Dr. Berkowitz and Robert J. Freishtat, M.D., M.P.H., chief of emergency medicine at Children’s National, Jenkins expanded on an emergency medicine training program for PAs, which started at Children’s National in 2012.

Jenkins presents the 12-month module at the American Academy of Physician Assistants 2018 Annual Conference in New Orleans on Saturday, May 19, 2018.

Jenkins’ poster presentation, coauthored by Dr. Berkowitz, details the objectives, timeline, curriculum components and results that correspond with providing eight PAs with a 12-month training program to treat low-acuity pediatric patients at a Level 1 trauma center.

The eight PAs who completed the 12-month program in 2017-18 saw 14 percent of the emergency care department’s low-acuity pediatric patients – patients seeking treatment for basic care, such as ear infections, conjunctivitis or strep throat – after 12 months of exhibiting competency in the program. The structured curriculum includes a two-month orientation followed by a 10-month provisional training module, inclusive of CME submissions, scientific literature reviews, journal discussions, case studies, chart reviews, team-based care and competency reviews.

“This is all about education,” notes Jenkins. “We’re here to support the PA and we aim to answer questions they have about education goals, competency goals and practice goals in an institutional setting. This template provides the foundation to bridge the gap between post-graduation studies with the skills PAs need and are eager to develop throughout their career.”

Jenkins is currently working with Dr. Berkowitz to develop guidelines for PAs treating medium-acuity patients, inclusive of patients seeking a higher level of primary care, such as for appendicitis, and for PA-training-programs that extend past one year. Jenkins notes the 12-month program she presents at the American Academy of Physician Assistants 2018 Annual Conference is a template that can be applied to any PA subspecialty and is a desirable program for both employers and PA applicants.

“Ultimately, I sought to provide a guide that answered all of my questions I had as a new graduate and as a seasoned PA entering the new subspecialty of pediatric emergency medicine,” says Jenkins. “This program blends the academic science with clinical case studies and practice competencies, making it a modifiable learning platform that’s beneficial for everyone – but specifically designed for PAs. Remember, they enter the field with the desire to support physicians and their patients.”

Her guiding question isn’t on the final test but it helps her with the program design: How can we train PAs to provide the kind of care we want for our children, for our families and for our neighbors?

“I am proud of all of the PAs in this program and of all of the PAs I work with,” Jenkins concludes. “I actively refer them to family members and friends seeking urgent pediatric care. I am confident in the abilities of my group. They represent the type of provider I would send my family and my friends to see, and ultimately your family and friends to see, if they were in need.”

Dr. Berkowitz agrees and is happy with the success the program has had in preparing an average of six to eight PAs each year with the tools they need to launch their career.

Download a copy of “Bridging the post-graduation gap: A 12 month curriculum for PAs entering Pediatric Emergency Medicine.”

Learning platform teaches clinicians how to spot and treat malaria

October 26, 2016

Children’s National experts are outlining a novel approach to helping healthcare providers learn how to diagnose and manage malaria; the online tool provides real-time feedback about their decision making.

Next-generation medical education looks like this: A white-coat wearing avatar with the voice, face, and know-how of one of the nation’s leading infectious disease experts walks you through the twists and turns of how to diagnose malaria, making stops in a variety of hospital settings. If you make the right diagnostic and treatment decisions, you get instantaneous gold stars. If your choices are off-the-mark, at each decision point you get a clear explanation of why your answer was incorrect.

“This is the future of medical education,” says Barbara Jantausch, M.D., F.A.A.P., F.I.D.S.A., an infectious disease specialist at Children’s National Health System. She’s the female avatar with the John Travolta dance moves and expertise about malaria’s epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment.

Dr. Jantausch will present a poster, “The Hot Zone: An Online Decision-Centered Vignette Player for Teaching Clinical Diagnostic Reasoning Skills,” during IDWeek 2016, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. “It’s case-based, interactive e-learning where you choose your own adventure. The beauty of this module is the training can be self-directed,” Dr. Jantausch adds.

“At Children’s National, we’re pioneering the effort to build discovery-based learning platforms,” says Jeff Sestokas, Director of eLearning. In the vignette player, he’s the male avatar named Dr. Bear. Malaria is the first infectious disease training module but others are planned for the global health series, including Chagas disease and Zika virus, Sestokas says.

Identifying the illness

According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), in 2015 an estimated 214 million people around the world had malaria, a mosquito-borne illness, and 438,000 of them died. Because of the lengthy incubation period, many international travelers do not show malaria symptoms until they return to the United States and experience flu-like symptoms including high fevers, shaking chills, and dehydration. Their lab results may include metabolic acidosis, hypoglycemia, normocytic anemia, or thrombocytopenia. At Children’s, 25 percent of children admitted with travel-related malaria are admitted to the intensive care unit.

“This started as a way to offer people in areas that do not see as many patients with malaria an opportunity to learn the same critical thinking skills,” she adds.

People who click through the vignettes play the role of a clinician working in the emergency department whose patients include a 10-year-old girl who has just returned from vacation two weeks prior. The exhausted girl lies on a bed amid weeping parents and grandparents. She suffers from a headache and muscle pain and has a 39.8 C fever, though it spiked higher before her arrival at the ED.

“Because symptoms for malaria can mimic other infectious diseases, clinicians need to be able to recognize it in order to ask the most appropriate questions,” she says.

Making real-time decisions

In the vignette, participants are asked to type additional questions to help with diagnosis. Then, they select one of three geographic regions to explore in the 20-minute module in order to gain a better appreciation of the epidemiology of malaria, including the Plasmodium species that cause disease in those regions; to recognize a patient with symptoms of malaria; and to manage their care in keeping with the CDC’s guidance.

Within a few clicks, participants select the degree of the girl’s parasitemia, view slides from thick and thin blood smears, choose the medicine best suited for the parasite causing illness and geographic region the family visited, and decide on follow-up care.

“The timed sections force decision-making in real-world situations,” Sestokas adds. “Behind the scenes, we can look at how well clinicians recognize the subtleties prior to making their decisions and we provide feedback in real-time. Ultimately, our goal is to stimulate deliberate, reflective practices.”

At AAP: hands-on simulation training with life-saving technology

October 24, 2016

aap_nshah_techdependentinfants_atmospheric

Recent medical breakthroughs have enabled very premature infants and children with rare genetic and neurological diseases to survive what had once been considered to be fatal conditions. This has resulted in a growing number of children with medically complex conditions whose very survival depends on ongoing use of technology to help their brains function, their lungs take in oxygen, and their bodies remain nourished.

“Many pediatricians care for technology-dependent children with special health needs,” says Neha Shah, M.D., M.P.H., an associate professor of pediatrics in the Division of Hospitalist Medicine at Children’s National Health System. “These kids have unique risks – some of which may be associated with that life-saving device malfunctioning.” Because there is no standard residency training for these devices, many clinicians may feel ill-equipped to address their patients’ device-related issues. To bridge that training gap, Dr. Shah and co-presenters, Priti Bhansali, M.D., M.Ed., and Anjna Melwani, M.D., will lead hands-on simulation training during the American Academy of Pediatrics 2016 National Conference.

“Inevitably, these things happen at 3 in the morning,” Dr. Shah adds. “Individual clinicians’ skill level and comfort with the devices varies. We should all have the same core competency.”

How the training works

During the simulation, the audience is given a specific case. They have eight minutes to troubleshoot and resolve the issue, using mannequins specially fitted with devices, such as trach tubes and feeding tubes, in need of urgent attention. Depending on their actions, the mannequin may decompensate with worsened breathing and racing heartbeats. The high-stakes, hands-on demo is followed by a 12-minute debrief, a safe environment to review lessons learned. Once they complete one simulation, attendees move to the next in the series of four real-life scenarios.

“We’ve done this a few times and my heart rate still goes up,” Dr. Shah admits. After giving similar training sessions at other academic meetings, participants said that having a chance to touch and feel the devices and become familiar with them in a calm environment is a benefit.

Dr. Shah came up with the concept for the hands-on training by speaking with a small group of peers, asking about how comfortable they felt managing kids with medical complex cases. The vast majority favored additional education about common devices, such as gastronomy tubes, tracheostomy tubes, and ventriculoperitoneal shunts. In addition to the in-person training, the team has created a web-based curriculum discussing dysautonomia, spasticity, gastroesophageal reflux disease, enteric feeding tubes, venous thromboembolism, and palliative care, which they described in an article published in the Fall 2015 edition of the Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions.

“Most times, clinicians know what they need to do and the steps they need to follow. They just haven’t done it themselves,” Dr. Bhansali adds. “The simulation forces people to put their hands on these devices and use them.”

AAP 2016 presentations:
Saturday, October 22, 2016

W1059- “Emergencies in the Technology-Dependent Child: What Every Pediatrician Should Know” 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. (SOLD OUT)

W1131- “Emergencies in the Technology-Dependent Child: What Every Pediatrician Should Know” (Encore) 2 p.m. to 3:30PM

Tag Archive for: training