2023 Department of Pediatrics Academic Annual Report

is active on the PPN pre-hospital domain. Drs. Robinson and Baker are working with the telemedicine domain to increase utilization of video consultation prior to patient transports. The UAB PPN has identified the COACHES (Children’s of Alabama Community Healthcare Simulation) program as a focus area for supporting community engagement. Sarah Bingham, M.D., is assistant program director and is actively teaching at rural Alabama hospitals with COACHES. Community engagement and disaster preparedness activities with rural hospitals will increase in 2024 with PPN support of the COACHES program. INJURY PREVENTION AND SAFETY INITIATIVES Booster Seat Advocacy Program (PI: Jennifer McCain, M.D.). Through funding from the Alabama Department of Public Health, the Booster Seat Advocacy Program improves the use of booster seats throughout the state of Alabama. This includes educational events, collaborating with child passenger safety advocates and providing an understanding of Alabama’s child restraint legislation. Other safety projects include safe sleep, safe at home (firearm and medication storage), ATV injury prevention, self-harm and others. American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) CATCH (PI: Jennifer McCain, M.D.). This project is much needed, as historically Alabama has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the country. This funding provided safe sleep education in rural Alabama. Four hundred families were provided sleep sacks and assistance in signing up for a free crib with the ADPH. We are particularly excited about this project, as it reaches our most vulnerable patients and provides both education and equipment to reduce one of the deadliest injuries in infants in our state. QUALITY-IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVES Project LIGHT (Site PI: Sarah Bingham, M.D.). There are 160 sites studying and improving evidence-based management of infants less than 14 days of life (and >35+ weeks gestation) who receive inpatient phototherapy. We are currently in the data collection phase since implementation of new phototherapy and IV fluids guidelines and have developed Epic ordersets and templates to improve the care of newborns presenting to the ED with hyperbilirubinemia. A clinical pathway has been formalized and uploaded to the website. PECARN Study, HIKO-STEC (Co-PI: Jennifer McCain, M.D.). This is a twenty-four site study, and we are in the top three in enrolling patients. This involves hyperhydration to improve kidney outcomes in children with shiga toxin-producing E. coli infection. Children’s Hospital Association Pediatric Surviving Sepsis Collaborative (Valerie Davis, M.D., MPH). This is a quality-improvement project led by the Children’s Hospital Association to evaluate and improve patient survival from sepsis. Dr. Davis is the lead for our PEM division and represents us at the Children’s of Alabama committee level. American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Value in Inpatient Pediatrics (VIP) QI project, Preventing High-Flow Overuse in Bronchiolitis project (Valerie Davis, M.D., MPH). This is an AAP-led effort to improve the care of patients with bronchiolitis. The use of chest X-rays, high-flow oxygen and IV fluids has been examined. Dr. Davis represents the PEM division on this national collaborative and has disseminated the education piece to our division. Human Trafficking (Kara Huls, M.D.). The aims of this project are to improve mechanisms to identify child survivors of commercial exploitation and establish reliable referral patterns to optimize their recovery opportunities. We have established a screening tool for Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) patients and ED patients with high risk for commercial exploitation, a 24/7 on-call service to provide consultation with a medical provider when trafficking is confirmed or suspected and a clinic dedicated to the ongoing care of trafficking survivors. 2023 PUBLICATIONS HIGH-IMPACT PUBLICATIONS Acad Emerg Med. 2023 Aug 7. Gender Disparities Among Speakers and Awardees at Pediatric Emergency Medicine Conferences. Reichard KG, Levine DA, Reed J, Barrick-Groskopf L, Bechtel K, Cooper G, Hall JE, White ML, Langhan ML. Inj Epidemiol. 2023 Jul 3;10(Suppl1):30. Safe at Home: Prevention of Pediatric Unintentional Injuries. Burch C, Webb A, Jorge E, King W, Nichols M, Monroe K. Inj Epidemiol. 2023 Jul 31; 10(Suppl 1):40. Children’s Injury Database: Development of an Injury Surveillance System in a Pediatric Emergency Department. McCain JE, Bridgemon AE, King WD, Monroe K. J Med Internet Res. 2023 Mar 5. Virtual First Uses: Virtual Emergency Medicine Clinicians as a Health System Entry Point: A Cross sectional Survey Study. Potter J, Watson D, Gardner A, O’Neill J, Watkins C, Husain I.

Click here for the full list of publications from the division faculty in 2023.

EXTRAMURAL AWARDS & LEADERSHIP ROLES Mark Baker, M.D., is Technical Advisor for the AAP Global Pediatric Disaster Preparedness Virtual Course Project Advisory Committee, serves on both the PPN Disaster Steering Committee and the Deployable Assets Domain, and is the Disaster Networking Collaborative site lead.

Jennifer McCain, M.D. , is a voting member of the AAP Committee on Pediatric Emergency Medicine.

Kathy Monroe, M.D., is chair of the national AAP Committee on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention Education and is program chair and president of the national Injury Free Coalition for Kids.

2023 Academic Annual Report

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