Resident Training

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) Program is pleased to have an innovative project for the continuity clinic setting. The project, “Improving Continuity of Care for Children and Families Affected by Prenatal Alcohol Exposure,” provides first year resident trainees with strategies, tools, and resources necessary to introduce the future pediatric workforce to key components of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) most relevant to the primary care setting.

Next Recruitment Period: Fall 2023

Improving Continuity of Care for Children and Families Affected by Prenatal Alcohol Exposure

The overarching goal of this project is to engage pediatric residents participating in primary care continuity clinics to categorize the conditions within the continuum of FASDs and understand their prevalence. Participants learn to recognize the neurodevelopmental phenotype associated with prenatal alcohol exposure, to understand the importance of screening all patients for a history of prenatal alcohol exposure, and to recognize the role that social attitudes have in supporting families affected by parental substance use.

The project is designed in 2 phases. In phase 1, precepting attending physicians from continuity clinics will attend a training-of-trainers meeting to learn a curriculum to teach residents how to recognize and care for children with an FASD. In phase 2, preceptors will implement the curriculum with residents at their continuity clinics. Residents complete educational activities that support the identification and care of children with an FASD.

Curriculum Overview

1. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs): Screening, Assessment and Diagnosis
2. Overcoming Social Attitudes as a Barrier to Early Identification of FASDs
3. Treatment Across the Lifespan for Children with FASDs

Objectives

Upon completion of the Improving Continuity of Care for Children and Families Affected by Prenatal Alcohol Exposure project participants will be able to:

• Explain the importance of screening all patients for a history of prenatal alcohol exposure.
• Describe diagnostic criteria for conditions along the continuum of FASDs.
• Understand the differential diagnoses of FASDs.
• Recognize the neurodevelopmental phenotype associated with prenatal alcohol exposure.
• Identify presenting concerns and care coordination for individuals with FASDs in the pediatric
  medical home.
• Define the role that social attitudes have in early identification of FASDs.
• Describe the incidence and prevalence of alcohol use and pregnancy.
• Discuss the importance of an FASD diagnosis for treatment and interventions.
• Demonstrate how family-centered care can facilitate screening for prenatal alcohol exposure as part of the pediatric medical home.

Acknowledgment

This project is supported by the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (federal award number NU38OT000282) and managed by the American Academy of Pediatrics through the Pediatric Public Health Partnership on FASDs.

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