Primary Care Perspectives – Details, episodes & analysis

Have you ever seen a baby eating a chicken drumstick? Or gnawing on a whole strawberry or broccoli floret? Many healthcare providers may not have learned about baby-led weaning and therefore, may not teach parents about this method of introducing solids and teaching babies about self-feeding. In this episode, Dr. Katie Lockwood and Kary Rappaport, OTR/L, MS, SCFES, IBCLC, a senior feeding and swallowing specialist on the team at Solid Starts, discuss the differences between choking and gagging, serving sizes at different ages, feeding challenges, handling allergens, and more, just in time for Thanksgiving! 

Healthcare professionals may use social media for a variety of purposes including developing a professional network, increasing personal awareness of news, listening to experts, and/or consulting colleagues. It can also be a tool to disseminate research, market practices, engage in health advocacy, and engage with professional organizations. Increasingly we are seeing health care professionals provide health information to the community and engage with patients on social media platforms. On this episode, Anjuli Gans, MD, a pediatrician at Karabots Pediatric Care Center in West Philadelphia, a CHOP Care Network primary care practice, who is known online for her site Resilient Rascals and its popular Instagram account of the same name with 141,000+ followers, discusses the rules of engagement, how to fight mis/dis-information, and why healthcare providers might want to create a social media account.

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, strategies for engaging with communities and creating sustainable projects as a trainee, and examples of CHOP resident advocacy projects. Noreena recommends the CHOP Office of Community Impact as a great starting point for anyone interested in starting their advocacy journey! You can also read her article in Pediatrics (Feb 2024) entitled "A Qualitative Study of Resident Advocacy Work." This episode is such an inspiring conversation about an important topic for all pediatricians and medical educators!

When is a child just flexible, and when do we say they’re hypermobile? Staci Kallish, DO, a clinical geneticist in the Division of Human Genetics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, talks about hypermobility, covering topics such as red flags for joint hypermobility, what systemic symptoms might indicate a potential inherited connective tissue disorder, and how primary care providers can screen for features of potential syndromes. Published June 2020. This podcast is for general informational and educational purposes only and is not to be considered as medical advice for any particular patient. Clinicians must rely on their own informed clinical judgment in making recommendations to their patients. ©2020 by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, all rights reserved.

With fewer children seeking care due to physical distancing, the early detection of pediatric cancers is being impacted. Julie Stern, MD, Director of Outreach Services for the Division of Oncology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, discusses how children with cancer may present differently during the COVID-19 pandemic and how pediatricians can optimize physical exams in telemedicine settings to screen for malignancies, common early presentations of a malignancy to watch for, what to include in initial lab workups, how to reassure parents it’s safe to seek care in this time and more. Published June 2020. This podcast is for general informational and educational purposes only and is not to be considered as medical advice for any particular patient. Clinicians must rely on their own informed clinical judgment in making recommendations to their patients. ©2020 by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, all rights reserved.

Parenting challenges faced in typical times are heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic, and both parents and children may be feeling stressed. In this episode, Emily DePaul, MPH, MAC, and Linda McWhorter, PhD, talk about positive parenting during a pandemic and the PriCARE Parenting Program, which focuses on providing a toolbox of parenting techniques to increase positive behavior and build a strong caregiver-child relationship. They offer advice and tools to help address some of the common concerns and challenges parents are facing during COVID-19. Published May 2020. This podcast is for general informational and educational purposes only and is not to be considered as medical advice for any particular patient. Clinicians must rely on their own informed clinical judgment in making recommendations to their patients. ©2020 by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, all rights reserved.

This episode’s guests Flaura Winston, MD, PhD, Founder and Scientific Director of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention, and Daria Ferro, MD, a pediatric hospitalist, discuss all things related to innovation and quality improvement, particularly during the times of a pandemic. They talk about the “innovation ecosystem” at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where the goal is to efficiently, effectively, and safely address acute pain points in pediatric healthcare with sustainable, actionable solutions that can be widely shared -- especially important in a time when we need to get solutions out there safely but quickly. Published May 2020. This podcast is for general informational and educational purposes only and is not to be considered as medical advice for any particular patient. Clinicians must rely on their own informed clinical judgment in making recommendations to their patients. ©2020 by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, all rights reserved.

In the age of COVID-19, many families are wanting to leave the hospital as soon as possible after delivering a new baby. But is it the right thing to do? Joanna Parga-Belinkie, MD, attending neonatologist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, talks about the many factors that must be considered for the health and safety of both mothers and newborns, key newborn screenings, the role primary care providers can play in monitoring infants who were discharged early, resources for new mothers, and more. Published April 2020. This podcast is for general informational and educational purposes only and is not to be considered as medical advice for any particular patient. Clinicians must rely on their own informed clinical judgment in making recommendations to their patients. ©2020 by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, all rights reserved.

Child abuse is unfortunately very common, and in the setting of a pandemic like COVID-19, the risk is elevated. Cindy Christian, MD, talks about the factors that increase the risk for abuse during a pandemic, such as heightened stressors facing families and the fact that children are not visible to those who often recognize and report abuse, like teachers and pediatricians. She also discusses what pediatricians can do to identify possible signs of abuse and neglect, specific injuries that warrant closer evaluation, recommendations for documentation and reporting, and more. Published April 2020. This podcast is for general informational and educational purposes only and is not to be considered as medical advice for any particular patient. Clinicians must rely on their own informed clinical judgment in making recommendations to their patients. ©2020 by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, all rights reserved.

Preterm birth results in multiple challenges, both short term in newborn intensive care units, and long term in the neurodevelopmental outcomes of these babies. gretchen Lawhon, PhD, RN, CBC, FAAN, a clinical nurse scientist at Abington-Jefferson Health’s Division of Neonatology, discusses how scientific advances continue to inform how we care for these vulnerable patients, with an emphasis on protecting a baby’s developing brain in the context of their specific behaviors, environment, and family unit. Published March 2020. This podcast is for general informational and educational purposes only and is not to be considered as medical advice for any particular patient. Clinicians must rely on their own informed clinical judgment in making recommendations to their patients. ©2020 by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, all rights reserved.