Community Curriculum

Pediatricians serve as advocates for children in many ways.  Success relies on understanding the needs of patients as individuals and as members of communities, and on the ability to form relationships and communicate well with community partners.  The Community Curriculum offers residents the opportunity to develop skills and experience in these areas. Please read article on "Learning Through Experience", a sign language community program created by Christine Skurkis, UConn Pediatric Chief Resident and Sarah Schlegem, UConn Medical Student: "Learning Through Experience".  

Below are the currently offered electives, each with a sampling of its goals, recent resident activities, and recent resident projects.  Each is designed as a longitudinal elective, occurring one half day per week during each ambulatory block.  Alternative scheduling, including block electives, may be possible with the consent of the faculty preceptor.  The PL 1 year usually offers residents an introduction to a population, problem or skill set, and the PL 2 and PL 3 years are used to develop individual projects.  Residents may also design a three year individualized, independent community elective, with appropriate faculty preceptor support.

Overall Program Goals/Objectives

• To provide pediatric residents with the tools and knowledge needed to become professionals committed to improving the health of children in their communities.      
• To engage pediatric residents in the communities in which they work.
• Develop meaningful partnerships between the academic department and community-based organizations (CBOs).
• Enhance pediatric training through interdisciplinary collaborations with other schools and university departments.

Individual Electives Goals/ Objectives:

Community Based Multidisciplinary Team Collaboration:
Child Abuse  

1. Understand the role of the pediatrician as part of a team approach to child protection issues. 
2. Understand the public health and individual health approaches to child protection.

• Activities
• Multidisciplinary Investigation Team
• Children’s Center / SCAN program (abuse evaluations)
• Child Protection Team
• Research
• Projects
• Shaken Baby Syndrome
• Nurturing Families
• Post 136/ Post Hotline (referrals)
• Morbidities of Safe Home (group foster care) residents
• Resident Education

Medical Homes for Children With Special Health Care Needs

1. To participate in the design of medical homes for children with special health care needs.
2. To assist in policy development to support the medical home concept for children with special health care needs.

• Activities
• Occupational Therapy/ children with autism
• Home / school visits
• Projects
• Afterschool program for girls

Government Relations and Advocacy

1. To understand the process by which an issue is drafted into a bill and passed into Connecticut law.
2. To become comfortable with and equipped for interactions with policy makers at the city, county, state and/or federal level.
3. To apply advocacy skills/lessons to a current advocacy issue.

• Activities
• Meetings with CCMC’s lobbyist, legislators and other government officials at the Legislative Office Building
• Research / development of proposals and educational materials for use with and by legislators, statistics on Medicaid kids treated at CCMC to support Medicaid lobbying
• Identify opportunities to address child health problems as  advocacy issues
• Projects
• Medicaid / Obesity data
• Medicaid / CCMC impact
• Video for obesity education in schools

Help Me Grow

• To understand how a statewide system connecting families to appropriate services can promote the well being of children at risk for behavioral or developmental problems. 
• To obtain knowledge about community based programs that serve children.
• Activities
• Overview of the Help Me Grow System
• Child Development Infoline Orientation and Observation
• Community-based Programs:         

Maternal / Infant Outreach                 
Early Childhood
Parenting
Public Health                                              

• Projects / Presentations
• Post-partum Depression Effects on Development
• Culturally Sensitive Health Care
• OM—Updated Recommendations
• Neurologic Sequelae of Premature Babies

Injury & Violence Prevention

1. To learn the epidemiology, cost issues and public health implications of accidental and inflicted injuries.
2. To understand general principles of injury prevention and the use of educational, environmental, and legal strategies to prevent injury.
3. To describe a systems approach to developing a community-based injury prevention program and understand how to evaluate injury prevention programs.

• Activities
• Injury Free Coalition for Kids
• Presentations in schools
• Journal Club for staff
• Projects
• Gun exchange (with independents)

PROkids:  Working with Families on the Road to Recovery

1. To learn about the method and value of home-based intervention services for families at risk.
2. To learn about an attachment and infant mental health model incorporated into primary care practice. 
3. To acquire current knowledge concerning addiction and its antecedents, and the effects of prenatal exposures on infants and children.

• Activities
• Home visits with social worker
• Support groups
• clinic
• Projects
• Presentation on hepatitis to support group members

School Health

1. To understand the differences between office- and community-based health care delivery and the role of the pediatrician as a consultant to a community service.
2. To understand different ways of teaching and learning in childhood.
3. To learn to optimize continuity of care of children with chronic illness by cultivating communication between school clinics and community clinicians.

Children in Foster Care

1. To gain an understanding of the emotional, behavioral, developmental, and support needs of children and families involved in foster care.
2. To understand the factors influencing permanency planning, reunification and adoption.

• Activities
• Foster Care Clinic
• Safe Home (group foster care)
• Sankofa House (permanency diagnostic/treatment center)
• Department of Children and Families field work
• Projects
• Handout on child safety
• Staff education on development and nutrition
• Education and training for new foster parents

Enhanced Primary Care:  Medical-Legal Advocacy Clinic

• To learn about the basic government programs that affect and address low-income children, such as disability benefits for children, cash and food assistance programs, Medicaid and special education services.
• To learn the principles of multidisciplinary advocacy - - the concept that attorneys and physicians may combine their skills and knowledge to advocate on behalf of children in need to improve health outcomes.
• To work with an attorney to provide direct patient/client service to remedy acute issues that affect child health, including such issues as:  Medicaid, disability,  discrimination,  special education,  housing (environmental toxins), immigration,  benefits (e.g. SSI eligibility), and systemic issues such as the children’s mental health crisis and Medicaid eligibility.
• Activities
• Intakes
• Case Discussion
• Research
• Case Consultation
• Expert Advice
• Litigation Preparation
• Projects
• Case work
• Guidelines for residents
• Article collaboration
• Training presentations with Medical-Legal Partnership Program staff

Office of the Child Advocate

1. To learn about the systems of protection and advocacy available to children and families in the state of Connecticut and how to approach the evaluation of ‘systems failure’.
2. To gain skill in communicating with individuals of different backgrounds to both investigate problems and promote solutions.

• Activities
• Participation in current investigations of the OCA, accompanying the OCA representative into the field.
• Meet with legislative bodies to advocate for children and families.
• Participation with an interdisciplinary team on a research/ investigation/ advocacy project of the OCA.

 
Family Life Education

1. To understand the importance of community action and intervention, including the practice of home visitation, in the promotion of healthy lifestyles and healthy parenting.
2. To gain skill in working with case managers and case management programs.

• Activities
• Home visitation with the Nurturing Families program or Teen and Young Parent Support.
• Participation in support/ education groups such as the High School Group (teen mothers through age 18), the Career Paths Group (19-21 year old mothers), the Nurturing Parenting group and the Padres y Niños group (families in crisis, associated with PROkids program). 

Breastfeeding

• Recognize and manage common and uncommon problems/difficulties women encounter when they breastfeed.
• State what is currently being done to promote breastfeeding and the current public health issues concerning breastfeeding at a state and national level.
• Understand the roles of allied health care professionals and lay groups in promoting and supporting lactation, and how and when to access them for patients in the community.
• Activities
• Hispanic Health Council (peer counselors)
• Home visits / Lactation Consultants
• Community Health Center
• La Leche
• Projects
• MD attitudes on breastfeeding and jaundice

INDEPENDENT PROJECTS

• TB Screening

• International Adoption

• Deaf / Hearing Impaired Abuse Prevention Education

• Obesity Education in Schools

• Asthma  Education for Teachers of Physical Education

• School Health

• Gun Exchange
  • Dress to the Nines (prom gown donation/ safety education)