Immunization
Free Vaccines for Parents Program: A Novel (and Successful) Pediatric Resident Advocacy Project
Advocacy education is a key component of pediatric residency training and its importance is emphasized in current Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) program requirements.1,2 Advocacy initiatives identify challenges and disparities that negatively affect child health and often involve parent and provider education to facilitate the development of strategies that improve community health. The multifaceted approach to advocacy training challenges medical educators to develop curricula to teach the skills, attitudes, and knowledge necessary for successful implementation of an advocacy program.Alabama's Perspective of the Child Health Insurance Program
The articles in this supplement report on a Congressionally mandated evaluation of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and highlight the effects of the program on insurance coverage and access to care in 10 study states. Here, we provide some insights on how CHIP has found success in Alabama by providing coverage to uninsured children and ensuring they have access to quality health care.The Research Home: Partnering with Families
I want to express my gratitude to the members of the Research Committee for considering me suitable to receive this prestigious award.Addressing Electronic Clinical Information in the Construction of Quality Measures
Electronic health records (EHR) and registries play a central role in health care and provide access to detailed clinical information at the individual, institutional, and population level. Use of these data for clinical quality/performance improvement and cost management has been a focus of policy initiatives over the past decade. The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA)-mandated Pediatric Quality Measurement Program supports development and testing of quality measures for children on the basis of electronic clinical information, including de novo measures and respecification of existing measures designed for other data sources.School-Located Influenza Vaccination: Can Collaborative Efforts Go the Distance?
Despite a large amount of publicity about universal pediatric influenza vaccination, nationally, influenza vaccination rates among school-aged children remain low. Only 59% of 5- to 12-year-old children and 43% of 13- to 17-year-old adolescents were vaccinated during the 2012 to 2103 flu vaccination season.1 It is time to consider new paradigms to complement traditional influenza vaccinations in primary care. One “new” paradigm involves school-located influenza vaccination (SLIV), about which there is a great deal of confusion.The American Academy of Pediatrics and Quality Improvement
Quality is 1 of the 3 main pillars supporting the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Agenda for Children. The AAP has developed and promoted quality improvement (QI) programs to its membership for several decades. For more than 20 years, the AAP has maintained a committee of pediatrician leaders who have demonstrated an expertise in the area of QI and quality measurement, currently named the Steering Committee on Quality Improvement and Management. This committee works on developing pediatric QI measures, identifying patient safety programmatic and educational opportunities, reviewing evidence-based clinical practice guidelines, writing QI-related policy statements, and determining methodologies for implementing QI in both primary care and specialty pediatric practices.Communicating With Parents About Immunization Safety: Messages for Pediatricians in the IOM Report “The Childhood Immunization Schedule and Safety: Stakeholder Concerns, Scientific Evidence, and Future Studies”
The report, “The Childhood Immunization Schedule and Safety: Stakeholder Concerns, Scientific Evidence, and Future Studies,” released by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in January 2013, is highly relevant for the pediatric community.1 Although many studies have assessed the safety of immunizations, to our knowledge, this is the first study to address the childhood immunization schedule as a whole. The purpose of this commentary is to highlight the report's most pertinent findings and recommendations for the pediatric community.The Challenge of Reaching Adolescents to Promote Health Care
The challenge of providing appropriate preventive health services to adolescents is one familiar to all pediatricians who care for this population. Adolescents have fewer recommended preventive health medical visits than young children and may not have regular contact with the health care system. In recent years, new adolescent vaccines have been developed and recommended to provide protection against pertussis (TdaP), meningococcal meningitis (MCV4), and human papillomavirus (HPV), increasing the need for appropriate preventive health care.And How Are the Children?
In East Africa, when Masai warriors met one another, the traditional greeting was “Kasserian ingera,” which means “and how are the children?” It is relevant for pediatricians to ask ourselves this question with regard to the world's children. In an era of increasing industrialization, globalization, and sophisticated health care technologies, progress on improving indicators of children's health has been uneven. Global statistics reveal that in 2010, approximately 7.6 million children died before their 5th birthday.A Shot in the Arm: Not as Simple as It Would Seem
Compared to battling the obesity epidemic or reducing rates of adolescent pregnancy, providing vaccines to children and adolescents seems like it would be simple. After all, it’s just a shot in the arm (or a spray up the nose). We have safe, effective vaccines to protect against numerous deadly illnesses. Pediatricians are particularly good at vaccinating patients due to a core value of focusing on prevention, as well as having vast opportunities to practice this behavior. The United States has a stable Federal entitlement program for children who lack insurance to cover vaccination costs (ie, the Vaccine for Children [VFC] program), and the majority of parents still choose to accept the recommended vaccination schedule.Global Child Health: Reaching the Tipping Point for All Children
It is an honor and pleasure to address this audience of academic colleagues. We are celebrating the Academic Pediatric Association’s (APA) 50th anniversary and have begun with the presentation of 4 superb talks exemplifying the areas of focus for the APA: education, research, health care delivery, and public policy/advocacy. The theme of this Presidential Plenary is The Past, the Present and Gazing into the Future, and in doing so we must reflect and understand where we have been, where we are, and where we want to go.A History of the Academic Pediatric Association’s Public Policy and Advocacy Initiatives
Throughout its 50-year history, the Academic Pediatric Association (APA) has recognized the importance of social, environmental, and public policy issues for children’s health. Since the organization’s inception, the APA and its members have taken an active interest in many major child health public policy initiatives (Table). APA members have worked to promote policies that benefit children’s health on a broad scale, conducting key research on health issues and health care interventions in order to inform policy debates, providing Congressional testimony, and leading initiatives for policy change.Caring for Children With Special Needs: Historical Perspective
My mentor, Charles A. Janeway, chief of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital, Boston, and a renowned immunologist, frequently said that his greatest achievement was not in his immunological research, but in mentoring his students. I feel that way, especially with Jim Perrin, who was one of the earliest interns, residents, chief residents, and fellows at Rochester. His achievements in many fields are well known, especially his advocacy for children with special health care needs. I am pleased to be part of this symposium dedicated to Jim.
