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Community Pediatrics Overview
Mission Statement:
Community Pediatrics is dedicated to and promotes the health of all
children by supporting pediatricians participating in community health
initiatives.
Community Pediatrics works to strengthen the discipline of community
pediatrics, both nationally and internationally, and ensure a medical
home for all children by providing support to pediatricians involved
in community programs that improve access to health care for children
and their families. Community Pediatrics activities are designed to
promote the concepts encompassing community pediatrics and the activities
of community-based initiatives to expand health care services for all
children, including children with special needs. Through community health
services and community-based initiatives, the AAP strives to expand
health care services for all children, with emphasis on Medical Home,
and extensive work being done in the area of children with special needs.
"Pediatricians can play an important role in meeting the Healthy
People 2010 Goal to increase the quality, availability, and effectiveness
of educational and community-based programs designed to prevent disease
and improve health and quality of life."
Brief History of the Community Pediatrics at the AAP
Community pediatrics is described as a "concern for all children
in a population, those who remain well but need preventive services,
those who have symptoms but do not receive effective care, and those
who do seek medical care either in a physician's office or in a hospital."
Community pediatrics recognizes that children are best understood, and
their needs attended to, within the interlocking contexts of biology,
family, and community.
Since 1970, the Academy has been promoting community pediatrics in
a variety of ways, including policy statements about community pediatrics
and the medical home, and through activities like the Healthy Tomorrows
Partnership for Children Program (HTPCP), the Community Access To Child
Health (CATCH) Program, and the AAP Council on Community Pediatrics
(COCP). In 1994, the Academy formalized its commitment to community
pediatrics by instituting the Department of Community Pediatrics (DOCP)
to provide support to pediatricians involved in the development and
implementation of community programs that improve access to quality
health care for children and their families.
Over the years, Community Pediatrics activities have documented the
success of hundreds of pediatricians making positive contributions to
the health of their communities, finding that "with information,
support, and tools, pediatricians can be agents of change.” Through
the years programs related to immunizations, breastfeeding, Native American
Child Health, and Child Care have evolved and become part of the practice
of community pediatrics.
In 2005, the AAP initiated changes to make Community Pediatrics part
of the fabric of all AAP activities by infusing the concepts of community
pediatrics throughout the Academy. The former DOCP divisions and programs
have now been strategically aligned with activities related to chapter
and state affairs, advocacy, policy, and education.
The Division of Children with Special Needs
The Division of Children with Special Needs was initiated in July 1999.
The mission of the division is to work in cooperation with federal agencies,
particularly the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau, to ensure
that children with special health care needs (CSHCN) in the United States
have access to a medical home. Through this grant-funded division, pediatricians,
parents, administrators, and others who provide care to children with
special needs will have access to educational and advocacy materials
that address barriers to medical homes for CSHCN. The work done includes
recommendations that benefit CSHCN at the national, state, and local
levels; guidelines for care of CSHCN; evaluation tools that assess outcomes
of providing a medical home to CSHCN; and a national contact network
of experts in care for CSHCN. The division is also home to the Council
on Children With Disabilities ( a merger of the Section and Committees
on Children With Disabilities.
Programs include:
The Division of Community-based Initiatives
The Division of Community-based Initiatives promotes and supports pediatrician
involvement in community-based child health initiatives. The division
staff manage three national programs including the Community Access
To Child Health (CATCH) Program, the Healthy Tomorrows Partnership for
Children Program, and the Community Pediatrics Training Initiative.
The division also houses the Council on Community Pediatrics. Division
staff provide technical assistance on developing and sustaining community-based
child health projects.
Programs include:
- Community Access to Child Health (CATCH)
(www.aap.org/catch/)
Supports pediatricians who work with communities to ensure that children
have increased access to medical homes and to any other needed health
care services through training, technical assistance, peer support,
networking, and funding opportunities.
- Council on Community Pediatrics
(www.aap.org/sections/socp/default.cfm)
The mission of the Council on Community Pediatrics is to support and promote the community dimension of pediatric practice among pediatricians and all pediatric health care providers through leadership within the American Academy of Pediatrics and in the broader health care community. Council efforts include the development and dissemination of policies, innovative implementation programs, educational programs, and technical assistance opportunities. One of the Council's priorities is to identify and implement the strategies to promote child health equity. The Council has special interest groups that focus on: Indian health, prevention and public health, community pediatrics education and training, and rural health.
- Healthy Tomorrows Partnership for Children
Program
(www.aap.org/commpeds/htpcp/)
Aims to improve the health status of mothers, infants, children, and
adolescents by increasing their access to a medical home. Healthy
Tomorrows projects address four key areas: access to a medical home,
community based health care, preventative health care, and service
coordination. All projects target low-income populations.
- Community
Pediatrics Training Initiative
(http://www.aap.org/commpeds/CPTI/default.htm)
The goal of the program is to advance the field of community pediatrics
through promotion and support of residency training activities that
empower future pediatricians to become leaders in improving the health
of all children in their communities. All pediatric resident graduates
should have the knowledge and skills to engage in interdisciplinary
collaborations, community partnerships, and the practice of evidence-based
community health care to advance child health in their communities.
Other Community Pediatrics Initiatives
- Breastfeeding
Promotion in Physicians’ Office Practices
(www.aap.org/advocacy/bf/brpromo.htm)
Strives to educate providers of pediatric and obstetric care about
breastfeeding promotion and management in racially and ethnically
diverse populations by providing technical assistance and resource
materials, to enable them to be the most knowledgeable, effective
medical home they can be.
- Childhood
Immunization Support Program
(www.cispimmunize.org/)
The Childhood Immunization Support Program (CISP) seeks to improve
immunization delivery practices in community-and office-based primary
care settings, to enable providers to communicate effectively with
parents about vaccines, and to establish a network of immunization
providers who are promoting uniform implementation of best immunization
practices within a medical home. The CISP also provides technical
assistance and immunization resources.
- Bright Futures
(brightfutures.aap.org)
Bright Futures is a philosophy and approach to prevention and health
promotion for infants, children, adolescents, and their families.
Bright Futures materials provide comprehensive health supervision
guidelines, including recommendations on immunizations, routine health
screening, and anticipatory guidance. Strategies are being developed
to assist providers with the implementation of preventive services.
- Healthy
Child Care America
(www.healthychildcare.org/)
Supports efforts to ensure that children have access to high-quality,
nurturing child care programs and are linked to a medical home. Activities
focus on providing education, advocacy information, and technical
assistance to health care professionals, early childhood educators,
and child care providers.
- Native American
Child Health
(www.aap.org/nach/)
Raises awareness of the major health problems Native American children
face, and encourages Tribes and the Indian Health Service to enable
the provision of a medical home for American Indian/Alaska Native
children.
- Pediatrics Collaborative Care
Program: Oral and Mental Health Initiatives
(www.aap.org/commpeds/dochs/)
Seeks to provide guidance to pediatricians on the delivery of oral
health, mental health care, and community-based collaborative care
within the context of the medical home.
- Resident Portal
(www.aap.org/commpeds/additional/resident.html)
The Community Pediatrics Resident Portal provides residents and related
professionals interested in community pediatrics with helpful information
and links to resident-related initiatives at the AAP, and other organizations.
Here you will find community pediatrics curricular materials, funding
opportunities for resident projects, and other resident-specific resources.
- Culturally Effective Pediatric Care
(www.aap.org/commpeds/cepc)
This Web page on culturally effective pediatric care provides background
on changes in child demographics and the need for culturally effective
pediatric care, links to related AAP Policy Statements, and links
to general resources.
- International Community Pediatrics
(www.aap.org/commpeds/international/)
The AAP's vision of community pediatrics programs and activities is
to broaden the network of community pediatricians worldwide and to
help share information gained in the US about the practice of community
pediatrics. This page will provide information on community pediatrics
initiatives around the world.
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