By Aaron Maki MD PhD
Nationwide Children’s Hospital
aaron.maki@nationwidechildrens.org
Barbecue sauce, fun and “Fowling” (football + bowling) were on the menu at SPUC’s 11th Annual Conference in Kansas City. It was an excellent showcase of the important work and achievements for which SPUC’s members continue to accomplish. The event was also packed with superb presentations by experts from Children’s Mercy and across the country. We thank Children’s Mercy for being an outstanding host, as well as Co-Chairs Dr. Tiffany Addington and Dr. DeeDee Stewart, and all other members whose hard work made the conference possible.
The recipient of SPUC’s 2025 Mike Moran Scholar Award was Dr. Mary C. O’Connor with her presentation “Moving Abdominal X-Rays out of the Diagnosis of Constipation in the Urgent Care.”
Dr. Swati Mahajan, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, won 1st Place Poster Presentation for her work on “Enhancing Antibiotic Stewardship: Increasing Discharge Smart Set Utilization in Urgent Care for Skin Soft Tissue Infection and Acute Otitis Media cases, a Quality Improvement Initiative.”
Tied for second place – “Sensitivity and Specificity of Leukocyte Esterase Thresholds in Point-of-Care Decision Making for Suspected UTI,” presented by Sadia Ansari MD of Children’s Wisconsin and “New Onset ALL in an 18-Month-Old Patient with Worsening Symptoms of Conjunctivitis-Otitis,” presented by Aaron Maki MD PhD of Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
A large and enthusiastic group was treated to a tour of the pediatric urgent care facilities of Institutional Host Children’s Mercy Kansas City. An educational exchange of Q&A between guides and guests proved to be a highlight of the conference.
And if you’re hungry for even more CME after the conference, SPUC continues to sponsor biweekly webinars (hyperlink to https://urgentcarepeds.org/pediatric-urgent-care-webinars/) which offer complimentary CME and MOC II credits to SPUC members.
Testimonials
“Love the Leadership Summit – filled with important topics and open, collaborative discussions. Makes the conference twice as good!”
“All presenters did an excellent job. The meeting was well organized and the topics will be of benefit to our PUC. This was a great meeting.”
