Child Abuse SIG
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June 2010 Newsletter Article
The Child Abuse SIG meeting was held at the Pediatric Academic Societies' Meeting in Vancouver, Canada on Sunday, May 2nd, 2010. With over 30 members in attendance, an active and engaged group discussed the content presented by the various speakers.
The first part of our SIG meeting was focused on child maltreatment prevention, with three speakers offering different perspectives. First, Heather Keenan, from Salt Lake City, Utah spoke about her evaluation of Utah's nursery-based abusive head trauma prevention program. While her careful analysis showed that the program had no effect on the incidence of abusive head trauma in the state, Heather eloquently communicated some of the epidemiologic challenges such as confounding variables, and she was particularly effective in her presentation.
Ron Barr, from Vancouver, discussed the Period of Purple Crying Prevention Program. Included in his talk was a review of his data on parent knowledge and behavior change as a result of the program. He also discussed some of his future plans for program expansion and ongoing evaluation.
Megan Bair-Merritt, from Baltimore, Maryland, our third prevention speaker, provided an overview of the current research on child maltreatment in the context of intimate partner violence. She reviewed some of the challenges and successes in addressing violence prevention in these families.
The meeting then shifted gears to a focus on the future of Child Abuse Pediatrics, which was led by Robert Block from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Chair of the Child Abuse Pediatrics sub-board. Child Abuse Pediatrics is now an official pediatric subspecialty, and held its first board exam in November, 2009. More than 180 pediatricians are now board certified in Child Abuse Pediatrics. However, subspecialty status leads to new challenges, including establishing fellowship programs, finding funding for training and research, and the role of pediatricians and other physicians who evaluate children with suspected maltreatment, but do not meet criteria for board certification. Dr. Block identified and discussed these challenges and offered a roadmap to begin addressing them.
SIG Co-Chairs
Phil Scribano
philip.scribano@nationwidechildrens.org
Wendy Lane
wlane@epi.umaryland.edu
SIG Co-Chairs:
Wendy Lane, MD, MPH
660 W. Redwood St.
Baltimore,MD21201
Phone: (410) 706-7865
Fax: (410) 706-4425
wlane@epi.umaryland.edu
Philip Scribano, DO, MSCE
655 E. Livingston Ave.
Columbus,OH43205
Phone: (614) 722-3283
Fax: (614) 722-4046
Philip.Scribano@nationwidechildrens.org
