By Thuylinh N. Pham MD FAA
Pediatric Urgent Care East Physician, Assistant Professor, Division of Urgent Care
Children’s Mercy Kansas City
University of Missouri Kansas City – School of Medicine
In August of this year, the Section of Urgent Care Medicine (SOUCM) advanced from provisional to full section status within the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). This is a momentous milestone for urgent care pediatricians everywhere as our subspecialty continues to gain nationwide recognition and could not have been possible without our members.
Highlights of our accomplishments include:
- Membership count: Growth from 150 to over 700 members
- Developed SOUCM collaboration site with best practice resources for urgent care
- Provided expert commentary and guidance for AAP interim policy during COVID-19 response
- Won the 2022 AAP award for Section Innovation in recognition of our contributions to virtual education and care delivery guidance during COVID
- AAP NCE educational programs: Spotlight Session in 2020, virtual H-program in 2021, and in-person H-program in 2022.
Dr. Jay Santos, current Chair, had the opportunity to highlight the impressive achievements of our section at the AAP Annual Leadership Forum (ALF) at AAP Headquarters in Itasca, Illinois. The entire Academy was excited to hear about our objectives to advocate for pediatric urgent care and pediatric-readiness in general urgent care centers, expand opportunities for pediatric urgent care education, develop and promote pediatric urgent care research, and position urgent care as a rewarding and sustainable career path.
Our Education subcommittee, led by subcommittee chair Dr. Amy Pattishall, recently held our first official in-person education program at the 2022 AAP National Conference and Exhibition in Anaheim, California. Membership heard from national urgent care experts on a variety of topics including pediatric EKG interpretations, radiology reading in the urgent care, and unique urgent care procedures.
During the next year we will be continuing work on urgent care focused modules for PediaLink, developing multiple national multi-site QI projects for MOC, led by Dr. Amanda Nedved, through our QI and Research subcommittee, creating guidance for pediatric care in the urgent care setting, and preparing for our next educational program at AAP NCE 2023 in Washington DC. We will also be having our first election of new officers in March.
If you are interested in becoming involved with the AAP SOUCM or would like more information, please email Teri Salus (tsalus@aap.org)
Sincerely,
SOUCM Executive Committee members:
Jay Santos MD MBA FAAP – Chair
Jennifer Johnson MD FAAP – Vice-Chair
David Mathison MD MBA FAAP – Vice-Chair
Amanda Nedved MD FAAP – QI/Research Subcommittee Chair
Amy Pattishall MD FAAP – Education Subcommittee Chair
Thuylinh Pham MD FAAP – Communication Subcommittee Chair
Sheryl Cohen MD FAAP – Membership Subcommittee Chair
