Primary Care Perspectives

Financial planning is not often taught to physicians but is an important topic!  In this episode, Sam Lewis, CFP®, ChFC®, MQFP®, Founder of SJL Financial, LLC, guides us through how we should think about life insurance, disability insurance, loan repayment, contract negotiations, savings accounts, wills, retirement, and more! While financial planning is an individual decision, this episode provide...

Gregory Heuer, MD, PhD , a Children's Hospital of Philadelphia neurosurgeon, explains tethered cord, including the embryologic development, diagnosis through imaging, clinical signs and symptoms, surgical approaches, and long-term prognosis. As a co-author of the CHOP Clinical Pathway on Tethered Cord Release , Dr. Heuer provides insight into what to expect after surgery, which is helpful to anyon...

In 2010, Congress passed the Hunger-Free Kids Act to help ensure that every American child has access to a balanced school lunch. This is important because many children rely on schools to meet a large portion of their daily nutritional needs. Parents and pediatricians should be aware that new rules will gradually place limits on added sugars and reduce sodium, among other changes. In this episode...

Twins account for 3% of live births in the US and are at risk of higher rates of fetal growth restriction, congenital anomalies, twin-twin transfusion syndrome, twin anemia polycythemia sequence, selective fetal growth restriction, and cord entanglement. In this episode, Michael Posencheg, MD , a Children's Hospital of Philadelphia neonatologist and father of twins talks to us about the care of #t...

Talking with teenagers can feel challenging, but in this episode, Kenneth Ginsburg, MD, MSEd , an attending physician in the Division of Adolescent Medicine and the Co-Director of the Center for Parent and Teen Communication at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, shares lessons learned from his years of research and experience with adolescents. Dr. Ginsburg's approach to teen communication focuse...

Contact with infected bats is the most common cause of human rabies deaths in the US, but dog rabies remains common worldwide. Learn about other wildlife that can carry rabies, post-exposure prophylaxis, high-risk hobbies and careers, and what rabies can teach us all. Andrew Steenhoff, MBBCh, DCH , attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at CHOP and Medical Director of CHOP's Gl...

According to the CDC, approximately 0.6% of children aged 0-17 have active epilepsy, so in a school of 1,000 students, this means 6 of them could have epilepsy. Adolescence is a time when patients have more autonomy in caring for their chronic disease and have changes in lifestyle factors, which could be risk factors for increased seizures. In this episode, Lawrence Fried, MD , a pediatric neurolo...

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) advocacy curriculum has a rich history of teaching pediatric residents how to incorporate being an advocate into their career as a pediatrician. Noreena Lewis, JD , the Co-Director of the Community Pediatrics and Advocacy Program (CPAP) , explains the various ways pediatricians can engage in advocacy, some of the biggest hurdles for resident advocates...

New research has led to the approval of sickle cell gene therapy and CHOP has played a big role in both the research and implementation of this innovative treatment. In this episode, Dr. Abraham Haimed , an attending in the Division of Hematology at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, explains how a patient's own hematopoietic stem cells can be edited to block the expression or function of a cert...

A recent publication in Pediatrics by George Dalembert, MD, MSHP and Aditi Vasan, MD, MSHP helps us learn more about how to use an antiracist approach to social care integration in primary care. In this episode, Drs. Dalembert and Vasan walk us through the recommendations made in their commentary with actionable steps for how we can all integrate social care interventions equitably into our practi...

As of 2020, 20% of new HIV diagnoses were among young people aged 13-24 years. Primary care pediatricians can play an important role in the prevention of HIV through standard, non-stigmatizing sexual health and HIV prevention care, which is why we are talking about PrEP with Sarah Wood, MD, MSHP , and Zoe Gould, LCSW . Learn about the role of PrEP, administration, barriers to care, and ways to sta...

The CHOP Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is working on enhancing communication of nutrition plans to primary care providers when infants are discharged. In this episode, Sarvin Ghavam, MD , an attending neonatologist and Kristina Spaide, MS, RD, CNSC, clinical nutrition manager, identify the unique nutritional needs of premature babies, common feeding concerns, and nutrition management pearls for the...

How well do you know the stigmata of Marfan Syndrome, which are an important components of the pre-participation sports physical? Staci M. Kallish, DO , a clinical geneticist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia reviews how the clinical diagnosis of Marfan Syndrome is made and tools that can be used in screening and diagnosis. Also, learn about the CHOP Cardiovascular Connective Tissue Disorders...

While many famous figures, including President Biden, have worked to decrease the stigma around stuttering, there are still significant psychosocial effects for many children who stutter. Joseph Donaher, PhD, CCC-SLP , a speech language pathologist at the Center for Childhood Communication at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, teaches us about the natural history of stuttering, when to refer to...

How can lawyers and pediatricians work together to improve patient care? Osarugue Osah-Edoh and Andrew Yang, lawyers at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and in the CHOP Medical Legal Partnership , educate us on how lawyers embedded in the healthcare setting support patients and their families with critical legal needs.

Inflammation, recurrent infections, fevers and rashes, and poor growth may all be ways that immune dysregulation presents in primary care patients. Edward Behrens, MD , Chief of the Division of Rheumatology at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, discusses the Dysregulated Immune Response Team (DIRT) and their innovative approach to immune dysregulation management. Using a multidisciplinary team,...

Google searches for tongue tie, or ankyloglossia, have doubled in the past five years and the number of infants having frenotomies is also increasing. Helping us understand the tongue anatomy and sort out myths surrounding tongue ties is Adva Buzi, MD , an attending physician in the Division of Otolaryngology at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Together, we discuss diagnosis, indications for r...

How is artificial intelligence (AI) already being used in pediatrics and how will we use it in the future? In this episode, Bimal Desai, MD, MBI, FAAP and Kevin Johnson, MD, MS, FAAP explain not only how we use AI currently, such as using an ambient scribe, but also how we can use AI in the future, including augmented imaging. We explore the benefits of AI for patient outcomes, concerns about data...

Diet culture seems pervasive in our society and impacts our children and adolescents. In this episode, Nicole Cifra, MD, MPH, MHPEd , Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics in the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia discusses the influence of diet culture, signs of eating disorders, and ways to have a weight neutral approach with patients. Early identificatio...

With their diverse work experience and unique skill sets, advanced practice providers (APPs) are able to contribute to not only the wellbeing of patients but also that of other providers. Bridget Sullivan Garmisa, MSN, MS, CRNP, RD, nurse practitioner at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, shares her perspective as an APP and gives insight into clinician well-being and burnout, including the vary...

As the fourth most abundant mineral in the body, magnesium is essential for regulating many bodily functions. But as a supplement — especially over the counter — it could do more harm than good. Neil Patel, PharmD, BCOP, Director of Retail and Specialty Pharmacy and Investigational Drug Service at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, reviews different formulations and potential contraindications,...

Unlike diabetes, the first line of treatment for prediabetes isn’t medication — but rather lifestyle modifications. Rachana D. Shah, MD, MsTR, Medical Director of the Healthy Weight Program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, reminds primary care physicians about therapeutic options, reviews the American Academy of Pediatrics’ most recent screening guidelines, highlights the risk factors of pr...

“To fast or not to fast?” When it comes to cholesterol screening, that is the question. Rachel Shustak, MD, and Jordy Martino, MSN, CRNP, an attending cardiologist and a nurse practitioner with the Lipid Heart Clinic at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, respectively, provide answers to that age-old question plus non-pharmacologic approaches proven to lower cholesterol levels; and more. By takin...

If there’s one lesson the COVID pandemic taught us, it is that public health lives on a local level — and in order to learn from the community, we must listen to the individual. Angela K. Shen, ScD, MPH, Visiting Research Scientist at the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, addresses growing concerns over vaccines and how physicians can help not only ease the worries o...

For the first time, a preventative medicine is available to protect infants and high-risk toddlers from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Lori Handy, MD, MSCE, attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, details the science behind the monoclonal antibody, nirsevimab (Beyfortus) and its importance, safety and efficacy, side effects, administra...