A Message from Shelly Voet, MD
July 23, 2021
Greetings to all of you. I hope you are enjoying the summer.
There is a lot of great information in this issue of Synapse. If you are interested in learning more about pediatric mental health, please consider one of the new ECHO cohorts beginning in August highlighted here. ECHO is a virtual learning collaborative with PCPs and specialists. It is a great way to learn with others, especially on more challenging cases. I have found it time well spent. The new cohorts also include groups for community therapists. This issue also includes an article highlighting the career of Dr. Uma Kotagal, educational events, and an update on the new Critical Care Building. Here are a few additional notes from the month:
COVID-19
Delta and the return of other viruses – In the last few weeks, we are seeing increases in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations both regionally and nationally, largely due to the more transmissible delta variant. In addition, the resurgence of summer (as well as winter!) viruses has made our offices, the ED, and the hospital very busy. RSV and enteroviruses are currently both circulating. CCHMC ED has experienced very high patient volumes and the hospital census has been high. Thanks for everyone’s efforts to accommodate their patients in their medical home to avoid ED visits. If you have a patient who needs urgent care, they can check wait times HERE
School: The importance of safe return to in person instruction for our children is top of mind for all of us caring for kids. We are grateful to the national AAP for the updated guidance on this, including support for universal masking in schools. If you are working with local schools, please consider sharing their statement HERE . We are also working on updating our testing/isolation algorithm with input from our public health partners. We will include this in the weekly email.
Testing: This month the last of the CCHMC drive through testing sites was closed. Symptomatic scheduled testing continues to be available at multiple CCHMC community sites. CCHMC lab staff are very grateful to community providers who are swabbing patients in their offices. Many practices have developed a system to swab asymptomatic patients who require testing for school or camp through a nurse visit in the office. This is convenient for families and frees up more appointments for symptomatic testing in TRCs. Feel free to email me if you have questions about how this has worked in our practice. If you are interested in obtaining swabs for symptomatic or asymptomatic patients, please contact Emily Kimball (Emily.kimball@cchmc.org).
Vaccinations: With the rise in cases, vaccination has never been more important for both patients and our healthcare workforce. Local health systems continue to encourage all employees to be vaccinated. When talking with families, sharing the numbers of children who have been vaccinated may help. The AAP recently reviewed CDC data. As of 7/14/21:
8.8 million US children under age 18 have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. (46% of 16–17-year-olds; 34% of 12–15-year-olds).
6.8 million children are fully vaccinated (38% of 16–17-year-olds; 25% of 12–15-year-olds).
CPAC - Our CPAC group is continuing to work on improving communication. Our newest project is a joint venture with IS to improve consistency of delivery and relevant content with initial specialty consult letters. We are thankful for the Urology, Dermatology, Neurology and Psychology divisions who are our partners in these first steps. We are also continuing to discuss feedback from the Community Provider survey with divisions.
Dermatology - Last month in Synapse we shared that there are two new Dermatology providers joining the division in August. The division director, Dr. Kalyani Marathe also encourages community PCPs to reach out to her team via E-Consult in Epic Link if you have concerns about a patient before they can be seen.
Community Medical Staff – I wanted to congratulate and thank two fellow community pediatricians and members of the CCHMC Community Associate medical staff who are serving as their AAP State Chapter president-elect. Dr. Chris Peltier of Pediatric Associates of Mt. Carmel was elected President-elect of the Ohio Chapter of the AAP last year and will serve a two year term as President beginning in 2022. Dr. Rob Tagher of Pediatrics of Florence was just elected to the President-elect position for the KY Chapter this June and will begin his term as President in June of 2023. Congratulations to both Chris and Rob! Please thank them for their service if you get the chance.
Residency – Mark your calendars for our THIRD annual Resident-PCP meet and greet on 9/15/21. More information to come from Physician Outreach as details are finalized.
Neonatology – Based on questions and feedback from PCPs, we are working with the RCNIC on potential systems to allow earlier identification and notification of PCPs regarding RCNIC admissions. We were also asked to clarify which patients will be followed in the Neonatology Follow-up Clinic after discharge. Dr. Tanya Cahill, the current Neonatology Follow-up Clinic Medical Director, supplied us with their current referral criteria but mentioned they also welcome calls to their clinic or referrals outside of these criteria from PCPs for preterm/complex newborns.
Thanks again for all you do to care for our kids!
Shelly F. Voet MD
Pediatric Associates PSC, CCHMC Executive Community Physician Leader
Shelly.voet@cchmc.org