Pediatrics

The power of a sticker: reflections on my journey as a pediatric resident

Physician

January 8, 2023

In my third week of residency, I gave out my first sticker.

My medical assistant opened the drawer and revealed the rolls of stickers, asking me to choose for my patient, who waited behind the door I just closed, their smile joining all the other little smiles that filled this room before and would continue to fill after.

The mind took me years back to little feet in pink and white flowery …

Clinicians serving under-resourced populations should seize opportunity for free lifestyle medicine education

Qadira Huff, MD, MPH

Conditions

January 5, 2023

As a pediatrician serving under-resourced families in Washington, D.C., I was glad to see health leaders converge for the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. Solutions to food insecurity and diet-related diseases are urgently needed to address the crisis of chronic disease, which afflicts six in 10 Americans.

One of the important issues discussed at the conference is the critical need for more education and training in nutrition …

Are pediatricians too nice?

Jennifer Shaer, MD

Physician

January 1, 2023

One summer a few years ago, I went to pick my son up from camp. He was attending a week-long specialty day camp where the kids spent a week with an expert in some area of interest. The camp offered everything from basketball, soccer, and tennis to acting, magic, and chess. It was the first time I was going to pick him up, and I wasn’t exactly sure where to …

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Are pediatricians too nice?

Is there a third pathway of resilience?

Gitanjli Arora, MD

Physician

December 30, 2022

My social media feed has increasingly included stories of friends “quiet quitting.” A term popularized through TikTok, quiet quitting is a reaction to the exploitation of employee labor without providing additional compensation. Simultaneously, my IRL conversations have been filled with stories of the Great Resignation, in which employees have voluntarily resigned, often without other employment secured. A recent report by the U.S. Surgeon General recognized the problem of workplace …

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Is there a third pathway of resilience?

Measles: a preventable disease that is making a comeback

Martin C. Young, MD

Conditions

December 30, 2022

I see there has been yet another measles outbreak; at the time of writing, the count is 59 in central Ohio. All are either unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated. No doubt local pediatricians are being flooded with worried parents proffering their offspring for viewing with the statement, “Could this rash be measles, doctor?”

This certainly happened to me in 2019 when doing some primary care practice. That year experienced a massive …

With RSV, it’s time for primary care to step up to the plate

Martin C. Young, MD

Conditions

December 7, 2022

Every pediatrician is familiar with this endemic seasonal virus, expecting to see several cases in their office during the winter months and maybe even admit the occasional one for inpatient care. Even amongst the latter, most do well and recover without incident, though the stay can be prolonged.

However, the respiratory syncytial virus — when it causes pneumonia and bronchiolitis (inflammation of the small airways — can result in serious illness …

Aesthetics and the physician’s eye

Claire Unis, MD

Physician

December 5, 2022

The fall sunlight calls my eye to notice little things: the veins on a yellowing maple leaf. The askew feather on a chicken’s wing. The faintest breeze tricking the pond into patterned sin waves around a lone white duck.

What do we owe this world but our ability to parse and observe, to interpret, to be filled enough by moments of abject beauty to return to the ugliness and try to …

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Aesthetics and the physician’s eye

Protecting children from bad medical care

Martin C. Young, MD

Conditions

November 24, 2022

Unfortunately, at least from where I sit, suboptimal medical care seems to abound. And every encounter of my family members with the health care behemoth is an opportunity for them to become a recipient of it.

When it comes to shielding them, I have had some failures in the past — it took a minor stroke in my father, who lived in England, for me to realize that he had never …

Digital philosophy: a critical tool for the mental health of children

David Shafran, MD

Physician

November 18, 2022

The precipitous decline in the mental health of U.S. children and adolescents has been meticulously cataloged in newspaper articles, books, and documentaries. In our own pediatrics clinic, the numbers have skyrocketed — a baseball player unable to get out of his car for practice, a teenager with aggressive behavior masking underlying depression and anxiety, and another 9-year-old unable to attend school due to daily panic attacks. Every day now, we …

I saved a baby’s life

Susan Walker, MD

Physician

November 18, 2022

I saved a baby’s life today.

I say that not to impress anyone or to make myself out to be some kind of deity but because it is simply true.

A three-week-old baby arrived at my office, gray and limp, with agonal respirations and oxygen saturation of 67 percent. My team of dedicated office staff worked with me rapidly and seamlessly, providing oxygen, bag-mask ventilation, and emergency medical services (EMS) activation. Together, …

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I saved a baby’s life

If growing a hospital pediatric program was only this easy

David Epstein, MD

Physician

November 14, 2022

The goal of making a hospital pediatric program a greater presence in the community hinges upon two areas, building community and alliance with local pediatricians and creating more visibility in the public arena. Both are not mutually exclusive, and each affects the other. The goal is to create a positive experience for both areas that will enhance each individually as they connect with one another.

Unfortunately, if not done correctly, negative …

Advice from a pediatrician during the viral surge

Alexander Rakowsky, MD

Conditions

November 12, 2022

As is the case throughout the country, central Ohio is in the midst of a viral surge with an unusually high number of ill children for this time of the year, leading to long delays in our urgent cares and emergency departments, in our primary care offices, and with over capacity inpatient units. It’s an extremely busy time for all of us and honestly makes for tiring and stressful days. …

Doctors: Dig deeper when children can’t gain weight

Susan Hartung

Conditions

November 10, 2022

The Oxford dictionary defines insidious as “proceeding in a gradual, subtle way but with harmful effects.” Most people associate this term with clever criminals. I am writing this to ask you to think about it in another way.

Perhaps the greatest joy a person can experience is welcoming a child into the world with so many dreams and visions for the future. Ideally, those dreams come true. But not always. Sometimes …

Overcoming the trauma of a fatherless childhood

Morarji Peesay, MD

Physician

October 24, 2022

An excerpt from Absent-Father Syndrome: Overcoming the Trauma of a Fatherless Childhood.

“I’ve sat face to face in front of many adults who were crying their eyes out,” says Rachel Norman, founder of A Mother Far from Home. “They needed healing tools and positive coping mechanisms. They had low self-worth, nonexistent …

Adverse childhood experiences: Can government policy reduce trauma?

Ariane Marie-Mitchell, MD, PhD, MPH

Conditions

October 23, 2022

One of the most radical implications of the literature on early childhood trauma is that abuse needs to be eliminated from all of our relationships: our families, teachers, colleagues, and government. When government leaders create a new policy, they can proceed in a way that disempowers constituents, or they can proceed in a way that fosters dialogue and shared decision-making. Ironically, the development and implementation of California’s policy …

A physician celebrates her growth

Wendy Schofer, MD

Physician

October 20, 2022

As a pediatrician, you’d think that I’d be a pro at celebrating growth. After all, I celebrate the growth of children in the office as they meet their developmental milestones and grow physically. I celebrate their academic and social growth.

What I hadn’t celebrated: my own growth. I thought for years that I was beyond that. Even my own professional growth had become tedious: Check the boxes on CME …

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A physician celebrates her growth

A story that changed this pediatrician forever

Elizabeth M. LeDuc, MD

Physician

October 16, 2022

I’m a pediatrician and have been practicing for 29 years. I currently own a solo practice.

Here is a story I wrote years after a patient encounter during my residency in 1993. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was an experience that would shape my career in general pediatrics.

Marcus is the worst case of child abuse I’ve seen to date. He’s two years old. His mom’s boyfriend dips …

The White House should help students swap out dairy milk in school lunches

Yami Cazorla-Lancaster, MD

Policy

October 14, 2022

I have an urgent request for the White House as it is garnering support for its national nutrition strategy that was unveiled at the September 28 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health: Tell the U.S. Department of Agriculture to stop putting students’ health at risk, and cut the red tape for them to get nondairy replacements for dairy milk in school lunches.

In the United States, …

Pediatrician and pharmacist agree: Children should be vaccinated against COVID-19

Sharon G. Humiston, MD and Damika Walker, PharmD

Conditions

October 13, 2022

With COVID-19 vaccines now widely available for children six months and older, we join pediatricians and pharmacists across the country and urge parents to vaccinate their young children against COVID-19 as soon as possible.

Schools are open and more activities are moving indoors with the cooler weather, so now is the time to ensure your child’s vaccines are up to date. Vaccinated children are much less likely to be infected than …

Difficulties navigating the health care system are causing many Black and brown kids to fall through the cracks

Jeffrey Shahidullah, PhD

Policy

September 29, 2022

A recent JAMA Pediatrics study confirmed what I see in practice as a pediatric primary care psychologist in Texas, one of four minority-majority states. The study reported alarming gaps between Black and Hispanic kids compared to white kids in attendance at primary care wellness visits—important appointments where children and parents can receive preventative and developmental services, timely immunizations, and answers to common questions. …

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