The Section on Urgent Care Medicine (SOUCM) wrapped up another successful half day program at the annual American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition in Washington DC this past fall. Dr. Amy Pattishall (Emory University) and the education committee planned this year’s theme of ‘Keep Calm and Carry on in the Pediatric Urgent Care’. Participants learned techniques from child life to keep kids calm during procedures and how to de-escalate caregivers in the urgent care setting, to the importance of sleep hygiene in healthcare workers. We look forward to hosting our next program next fall in Orlando. Calls for abstracts for 2024 began February 16.
Dr. Amanda Nedved (Children’s Mercy Kansas City) wrapped up the multicenter antibiotic stewardship QI program in June of 2023. The section, along with the Pediatric Acute & Critical Care Quality Network, received funding from Pfizer to develop a QI collaborative to improve prescribing behaviors in acute otitis media and pharyngitis. This was the first QI collaborative sponsored by the section. We had approximately 15 sites participate in 7 webinars featuring didactic sessions from national subject matter experts and roundtable discussions. Participants earned MOC Part 2 and Part 4 credits in addition to 20 hours of performance improvement CME.
Lastly, we said goodbye to two of our founding executive committee members, Dr. Thuylinh Pham (Children’s Mercy Kansas City) and Dr. Sheryl Cohen (PM Pediatrics) who are rotating off. We thank them for their contribution to the field of pediatric urgent care medicine. We are excited to welcome two new executive committee members, Dr. Jennifer Collier-Madon (Emory University) and Dr. Danielle Casher (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia). The section will have two open positions on the executive council this year and will also select a chair elect. We are excited to continue to have opportunities for new leaders in urgent care. If you are interested in joining, please consider adding the section to your AAP membership.
