EBCD
Promotion of optimal early brain and child development (EBCD) is essential for the health and well-being of children. During these critical first few years of life, safe, stable, and nurturing relationships are critical to healthy brain development. The AAP made EBCD a child healthy priority in 2010 and appointed a leadership workgroup. The EBCD Website provides information, tools and resources to make a clinical practice transformation.
Practicing Safety
The general pediatrician is in a prime position to play a much-expanded role in the primary and secondary prevention of child abuse and neglect. Anticipatory guidance is a regular part of pediatric care providing the context for teaching child abuse and neglect/violence prevention, parenting skills and identifying and supporting vulnerable families. For this reason, the AAP, with the generous support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, launched the first phase of Practicing Safety in January 2003 which provides guidance and tools to discuss possible triggers or environments for likely abuse. The second phase of Practicing Safety worked with teams using the Model for Improvement quality improvement methodology to work collaborative to use, modify, and test tools around coping with crying, maternal depression screening, effective discipline, and toilet training.
Sexual Violence Prevention
Since sexual violence occurs within a complex framework of family factors, peer interactions, adult-child relationships, and child characteristics, effective primary prevention in a practice must involve the parent, the healthcare professional and the child in different ways at different times during childhood and adolescence. In September 2005, the AAP received a cooperative agreement grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to support the pediatrician and other healthcare professionals in this role. As a result, the AAP has developed an educational toolkit to provide information, guidance and tools to prevent sexual violence in the office and the community. The CD-ROM version features 4 practical video case vignettes showing healthcare professionals how to talk to patients and parents about sexual violence assessment and prevention. The AAP designates the CD-ROM version as an educational activity for a maximum of 3 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. It can be purchased by visiting the AAP Bookstore. The Web version contains the majority of the content, including the written scripts for the videos but CME is not available.