Center for Pediatric Clinical Effectiveness

Mentoring

CPCE's mission extends beyond improving best practices for managing pediatric disease. It encompasses teaching residents, fellows and junior faculty clinical effectiveness research methods and tools for determining current best practices in pediatric clinical care. The following are some of the educational programs used by CPCE to fulfill this mission.

Teaching Evidence-based Medicine

CPCE is committed to teaching healthcare providers and students how to integrate clinical knowledge with current best evidence to make judicious decisions about patient care. CPCE members lead monthly teaching sessions in which pediatric residents learn to use electronic resources for searching the medical literature in order to answer clinical questions.

During EBM education sessions, teams of pediatric residents work with their CPCE mentors to identify important clinical questions, research the available medical literature, and produce a critically appraised topic (CAT) file. The CAT file includes background information, conclusions drawn, a summary of the evidence, and search strategies used. CAT files are compiled into a CAT Bank accessible on the PhillyPeds website at http://www.phillypeds.com/medicine.html. All healthcare providers nationwide who have an interest in the topic can view this resource.

Mentoring Junior Faculty and Fellows

CPCE actively seeks out junior faculty and fellows from all divisions and departments who are interested in pursuing clinical effectiveness research projects and fosters mentoring collaborations with experienced CPCE mentors. In addition to offering advice and support throughout all stages of a research project, CPCE mentors provide assistance in negotiations for the first job after fellowship, advice on career development awards (K23s), and informal guidance regarding the promotions process.

Mentoring MSCE Students

CPCE's Associate Director, Dr. Zaoutis, is the Deputy Director of the Masters of Science in Clinical Epidemiology Degree Program of the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (CCEB) at the University of Pennsylvania, and CPCE faculty members act as mentors for students enrolled in the program These mentors advise students throughout their time in the program, and provide assistance in the development of their research project and completion of their master's theses.

Acquiring Training Grant Support

As part of its effort to foster the training and career development of fellows and junior faculty interested in clinical effectiveness research, CPCE obtains T32 grants to fund the training of fellows from across divisions and departments at Children's Hospital in the performance of clinical effectiveness research.

Seminar Series

CPCE invites nationally recognized clinical effectiveness researchers, as well as local researchers, epidemiologists and biostatisticians, to speak about methods, policies and concepts related to clinical effectiveness research. For a schedule of upcoming CPCE Seminars, please check the CPCE calendar.

For a schedule of upcoming lectures by visiting speakers, please check the CPCE calendar.

Visiting Lecturers

CPCE invites national leaders in clinical effectiveness research from outside institutions to present their research as part of a quarterly Visiting Lecturer Series. The goal of the series is to educate CHOP faculty and staff on state of the art knowledge of best practices in the management of pediatric conditions. Visiting lecturers may also be invited to share insight on strategies and research designed to improve patient safety, quality, and outcomes. Category 1 CME credit is available for attending the visiting lecture series. Documentation of Category 1 CME can be obtained through the CME office Web site on the Children's Hospital intranet.

You can view slides from past visiting speaker presentations by clicking on the topic below:

1. Patrick Conway MD MSc, "Comparative Effectiveness Research: Perspectives from the Federal Coordinating Council" July 13, 2009
2. Rod Hayward MD , "EBM Redux: Tailoring Treatments to Individual Patients" January 30, 2009
3. Raj Srivastava MD MPH, "GERD in Children With Neurological Impairment", December 5, 2008
4. Peter Szilagyi MD MPH, "SCHIP, Children, and Lessons in Academic Pediatrics", October 22, 2008
5. Paul Sharek MD MPH, "Moving Closer to High Reliability: Understanding and Improving Patient Safety in Pediatrics"
6. Grace Lee MD MPH, The Economics of Vaccine Policy", Feb. 8, 2008
7. David Bertoch MHA and Matt Hall PhD, "Strengths and Limitations of Using Administrative and Billing Data for Research: The Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS)", February 1, 2008
1. Articles Published Utilizing PHIS Data (2002-2008)
2. Posters/Presentations Utilizing PHIS Data at Annual Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting (2003-2007)
8. Don Goldmann MD, "Getting to Zero and Other Possible Dreams," Jan. 18, 2008

Faculty Seminar Series

The CPCE Faculty Research Seminars provide a forum for CHOP faculty to present their research to the CHOP community. The goals of the Seminars are (1) To educate CHOP faculty and staff on state of the art knowledge of best practices in the management of pediatric conditions, and (2) To introduce some methodologic concepts used in research elucidating best practices (e.g. basic statistical and study design issues).

You can view slides from some past Faculty Seminars by clicking on the link to the topics below:

1. James Guevara MD MPH, "Translating Evidence-based Developmental Screening (TEDS) Into Pediatric Primary Care" October 3, 2008
2. Samir Shah MD MSCE, "Can We Simplify the Management of Complicated Pneumonia?" September 19, 2008
3. Richard Aplenc MD MSCE, "Pharmacogenetics of Leukemia Treatment Response" May 2, 2008
4. Mary Leonard MD MSCE, "Whole body vibration as an anabolic bone therapy in children" April 18, 2008
5. Ron Keren MD MPH, "Prophylactic Antibiotics for Vesicoureteral Reflux Diagnosed after UTI: Recent Findings and Implications for Care" March 7, 2008
6. Theoklis Zaoutis MD MSCE, "Prolonged IV vs Early Conversion to Oral Antibiotic Therapy for Osteomyelitis: Is it Time for a Change?" January 4, 2008
7. Pamela Weiss MD, "Henoch Schonlein Purpura: A Role for Corticosteroids during Hospitalization" November 30, 2007

Center for Simulation, Advanced Education and Innovation

CPCE members utilize the resources provided by The Center for Simulation, Advanced Education and Innovation at CHOP, which operates within the division of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine. The Center facilitates the translation of scientific discoveries into practical implementation for both research and clinical care. The center is directed by Vinay Nadkarni, MD, and Evelyn Lengetti, RN, MSN., and is administered by Stephanie Tuttle, MBA.

Centralized classroom and skills lab training, satellite skills labs, and unit-based "virtual" lab exercises adjacent to patient care settings are routinely conducted. More than 250 teaching sessions are offered with at least 4,500 attendees, including:

• education encompassing recognition of shock and/or cardiac/respiratory failure
• vascular access, chest tube care and hemodynamic monitoring
• advanced and difficult airway assessment and intervention
• pacemaker evaluation
• EKG interpretation
• critical incident debriefing
• crew resource management

The education scope is expanding and includes basic and advanced life support training, simulation "boot camps" for orientation and training. This Center is supported by CHOP, and additional funding is supplemented with a federal Agency for Healthcare Research Quality (AHRQ) grant to study "training to excellence" using "just-in-time" and "just-in-place" simulation resuscitation education techniques for sharp end providers. The center staff includes multidisciplinary center directors, full-time administrative staff, a full-time clinical educator, as well as additional volunteer faculty (e.g. physicians, nurse, therapists, educators) to conduct training. The center also has non-overlapping research coordinator and research assistant support through funding from the AHRQ and Laerdal Foundation for Acute Medicine.

The is equipped with more than $500,000 of equipment in the form of:

• flat screen simulators
• virtual reality technology
• simulation mannequins with software
• task trainers
• defibrillators
• video monitoring and programming equipment
• 10-12 PCs and monitors
• a network server with secure storage
• video editing hardware and software
• disposable supplies

In addition, there are collaborative links with the 7,000 square foot Brunner Technology Center at the Penn School of Nursing, which trains more than 8,000 simulation encounters annually, and the Measey Medical Simulation Center at the Penn School of Medicine. Both of these centers provide adjunctive expertise, equipment and personnel to accomplish training and research objectives. These resources have been mobilized and committed to support the evolving Laerdal-funded CHOP Center of Excellence for Resuscitation Research.