Primary Care Perspectives

CHOP has a new primary care clinical pathway for the diagnostic evaluation of development delay and intellectual disability. Its co-authors, Elana Huang, MD, primary care pediatrician, CHOP Care Network, and Hana Alharbi, MBBS, MS, pediatric geneticist, University of Tabuk, Saudi Arabia (who did a fellowship at CHOP), review the pathway and how it might help a primary care practitioner, including...

It’s estimated that 20 percent of variation in health outcomes is due to medical and healthcare system factors. Environment makes up a significant portion of the other 80 percent. Stephanie Mayne, PhD, MHS, epidemiologist and research scientist at PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, provides information to help primary care clinicians understand neighborhood-level social determinants...

Lunch at school. A birthday party. Dinner out. For kids with food allergies, everyday activities can be fraught. Megan Lewis, MSN, RN, CRNP, nurse practitioner and program manager, Food Allergy Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and James (JP) Senter, MD, a third-year resident at CHOP, review: the extent to which food allergies affect quality of life for children and families; oral imm...

Children born with congenital heart disease (CHD), the most common birth defect in the U.S., are at greater risk for emotional and behavioral health concerns. Lyla El-Messidi Hampton, PhD, ABPP-CN, pediatric neuropsychologist and co-director of the Cardiac Kids Developmental Follow-up Program at CHOP, and Nicholas Seivert, PhD, psychologist in the Cardiac Center at CHOP, review the many reasons fo...

Are occipital headaches always cause for alarm? What if the headache is always on the right side or the left side? What is a thunderclap headache? Ishani Kumar, MD, pediatric headache fellow, Division of Neurology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, provides a review to help primary care providers manage migraine headaches, including: tips for taking a headache history; red flags; distinguishing...

How can pediatricians move away from “diet culture” and encourage children and teenagers to have healthy relationships with food, exercise and their bodies? Two experts from the Eating Disorder Assessment and Treatment Program at Children’s Hospital, Eleanor Benner, PsyD, MA, psychologist, and Kerri Heckert, MS, RD, LDN, clinical dietician, discuss: suggestions for how pediatricians can talk about...

Approximately one-quarter of Americans have disabilities. How can primary care pediatricians better support the health and goals of patients with disabilities? Danielle Barber, MD, PhD, attending physician, Division of Neurology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, discusses: the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF); making care deci...

Updated clinical practice guidelines for management of hyperbilirubinemia – including revised phototherapy thresholds – were published in August, the first major change since 2004. Joanna Parga-Belinkie, MD, attending neonatologist, Division of Neonatology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, provides a review for the nursery and primary care clinic, including a new name for “breastfeeding jaundi...

The Adolescent Protective Collaborative (APC) at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is dedicated to providing a specialized medical home for youth who have experienced or are at high risk for sex trafficking. Primary care physicians can be partners in identifying and helping children who are victims. Guests Kali Hackett, MSW, MPH, a public health social worker and clinical services coordinator fo...

Lyme disease can be challenging to distinguish from many common pediatric infections. Michael Russo, MD, attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, reviews: disease history and incidence; disease stages, including early localized, early disseminated, and late; tips for distinguishing the Lyme-related symptoms bull’s-eye rash, facial palsy and...

The new SMART guidelines for children whose asthma is not well controlled, including use of one inhaler for maintenance and rescue, was a significant change to which both caregivers and providers are still adjusting.  Tyra Bryant-Stephens, MD, Medical Director of the Community Asthma Prevention Program and Chief Health Equity Officer of the Center for Health Equity at Children's Hospital of Philad...

More than half of infants experience gastroesophageal reflux (GER) and 10-20% have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and guidelines for this issue often change. Here to help clear up confusion is Jefferson Brownell, MD, pediatric gastroenterologist, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He first provides a review of red flags for referral to GI or the emergency room, and then an overview of G...

Primary care physicians can play a key role in helping patients who are intellectually and cognitively gifted get the resources they need, including children who may otherwise be missed. Thomas Flynn, PhD, a pediatric neuropsychologist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, discusses: characteristics a primary care physician can look for that may predict a high likelihood of being gifted; pros an...

Lupus is one of the most common diseases in pediatric rheumatology, but it is complicated to diagnose because its symptoms can be broad and nonspecific, creating overlap with other diagnoses. Sarah Bayefsky, MD, a pediatric and adult rheumatology fellow at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and Melissa Argraves, MD, MSEd, a pediatric rheumatolog...

In the U.S., Black women are 3 times more likely to experience infant mortality and previously healthy Black children are 3.4 times more likely to die within 30 days after a surgery. What do these statistics – and many others around healthcare, housing and other topics – have to do with vaccine hesitancy? Everything. Latasha Easter, MD, a pediatric resident at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia,...

Did you know that lack of canal swelling should be a red flag in physical exam of otorrhea? Ryan Ruiz, MD, MS, attending physician, Division of Otolaryngology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, provides a broad review, covering: key physical exam findings that indicate otitis externa; using antibiotic ear drops and/or oral antibiotics; when to culture; the role of cerumen; when to bring patient...

The Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative has more than 70 member organizations that help promote leadership, grit, and other important skills through sports. Beth DeVine, executive director, Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative, explains the term “sports-based youth development” and provides an overview of the organization’s goals and role, including trauma-informed coaching, outcome measure...

Climate change has many health effects, yet doctors and patients don’t routinely discuss this topic. Harleen Marwah, MD, MS, a pediatric resident at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who is the founder of Medical Students for a Sustainable Future,provides an overview of the many ways climate changes affects children’s health, including prenatal health and mental health. Presented with overwhelmi...

How can a primary care physician be sure their patient’s oral allergy syndrome (OAS) is not another type of allergy that may require more aggressive management? Katie Kennedy, MD, attending physician, Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, discusses: how to get a history to distinguish between OAS and IgE-mediated food allergies and seasonal/environmental...

In Philadelphia, sleep-related deaths (including SIDS, accidental suffocation, and unknown cause) are the second-highest cause of infant mortality, after prematurity. Two pediatricians, Roy Hoffman, MD, MPH, Medical Director, Fatality Review Program, Philadelphia Department of Public Health, who sees patients at a health department-run community health center (Health Center #6), and Stacey Kallem,...

Parents worry when a child hits their head. This podcast will help inform the important decisions you need to make as a primary care provider, including whether to send them to the emergency room. Daniel Corwin, MD, MSCE, an emergency medicine physician and researcher at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, discusses acute (less than 24 hours) head trauma in otherwise healthy children, reviewing:...

One in 4 children will have an episode of chronic pain before they reach adulthood, and kids with chronic pain are 3 times as likely to suffer anxiety or depression. How can primary care pediatricians help de-stigmatize the role of psychology in treatment for chronic pain? Jessica Collins, PsyD, and Christina Holbein, PhD, psychologists who run Comfort Ability workshops at Children’s Hospital of P...

Chlamydia is the most commonly reported bacterial disease in the U.S., and half of the 1.8 million cases reported in 2019 were in youth. A recent publication by Kenisha Campbell, MD, MPH, and Sarah Wood, MD, MSHP, adolescent medicine physicians at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, showed providers are much more likely to screen Black adolescent females for chlamydia than white females. In a rev...

Less than a quarter of children with developmental disabilities receive early intervention services before age 3. The recent update to the “Learn the Signs: Act Early” guidelines is a step toward more children and families getting help sooner. Kate Wallis, MD, MPH, a developmental behavioral pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, reviews: how and why the changes were made; how evalua...

Friendships and social bonds are integral to children’s health. How can a pediatrician help those struggling with social skills? Emily DePaul, BS, MPH, MA, who is a clinical research coordinator for the PriCARE Parenting Program and runs group social skills training for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), provides an overview of the importance of social skills and possible diagnoses in...