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Dear members,
We encourage you to
take advantage of this member benefit (Weekly Chatter that goes out on Wednesdays of select weeks)
and re-post it in your newsletter to patient families, on your practice website, and/or on your social media pages. We will send you updates periodically for this purpose.
If there are particular topics you would like to see addressed in Weekly Chatter, please let us know! We'd love to give you more information on topics that interest you and your patients. Contact the office with requests: admin@acpeds.org or 352-376-1877.
We are grateful for your continued membership and support.
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2017 National Meeting of the American College of Pediatricians
(in conjunction with the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists)
Mark your calendar:
September 30 and October 1, 2017
The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, Trinity International University
Deerfield, Illinois
**Details coming soon**
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Dr. Van Mol
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History & Medical Ethics
In sharp contrast to the Roman and pagan attitudes toward the sick and dying--prompt rejection and contempt--Christians brought care and compassion, first treating the sick in homes (persecution prevented formal facilities for such) and then hospitals, filling the "pagan void." Medical historian H.E. Sigerist wrote, "Christianity came into the world as the religion of healing..." The absence of social services in Roman Empire and the
scriptural mandate to care for the poor and oppressed prompted Christians to act, caring for widows and creating mercy ministries such as orphanages, hospices and more. University of Wisconsin professor David Lindberg remarked that Christians provided "...a Byzantine contribution that has benefited humankind ever since: hospitals as institutions offering medical care and the possibility of a cure, rather than merely a place to die...as early as the fourth century." ~ Excerpted from
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Start Saving at Our Online Store Now
ACPeds has contracted with a manufacturer to create on demand logo merchandise, high in quality without sacrificing affordability. These items are great for personal use as well as for gifts. Shop around on the ACPeds website at
ACPeds.org/health-professionals
/the-college-
store
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The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons Welcomes Submissions
The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons is the official peer-reviewed journal of the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). Dr. Jane Orient, Executive Director of the AAPS, is pleased to consider original papers, commentaries and book reviews by members of the College. For manuscript requirements and author instructions, visit
http://jpands.org/.
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10 medical liability myths pediatricians need to know
A lack of legal and insurance training, combined with a significant amount of
professional confusion regarding what constitutes informed consent, standard of care and a provider-patient relationship have all contributed to the rise of several persistent myths about physician liability, said presenters at the 2016 AAP National Conference & Exhibition.
See the 10 myths here.
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November at a Glance
The month of November is recognized as
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An Inside Look at the Baby Market in Brussels
 In a recent MercatorNet
article, a
donor-conceived Belgian woman describes her visit to a surrogacy fair held in Belgium, organized by the American company, Men Having Babies.
At the event, facilitators
branded unwanted childlessness as discrimination and injustice and championed the efforts of several branches of the LGBT community that are
lobbying for gay men and transgender women to have biological children of their own.
Men Having Babies claims to be a non-profit organization aiming to provide tools and means for gay men to pursue their right to have a biological family. Not only is
gender selection included in the services offered at the fair but also,
abortion can be enforced by contract.
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"Be open to experiencing amazement, wonder and awe, in as many situations and as often as possible."
- Margaret Somerville, Professor of Bioethics and writer for MercatorNet.com
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Dangers of Self-Administered Abortion
"...self-administration of abortion pills is rampant throughout the country due to over the counter availability of these drugs and complications are not uncommon due to this practice. The society perceives unsupervised medical abortion as a very safe method of termination and women use this as a method of spacing."
In a recent
study, researchers concluded that unsupervised medical abortion can lead to adverse medical consequences like
excessive bleeding, blood transfusions, incomplete abortions, and increased maternal morbidity and mortality. To curtail this harmful practice, strict legislation is required to monitor and also to restrict the sales of abortion pills over the counter and access to abo
rtion pills for the public should be only through centers approved for MTP."
The ultimate dream of pro-choice activists to eliminate medical professionals from the process of abortion will end in a nightmare of women injured and killed by these abortion drugs. You can be part of saving both women and children from these drugs. Sign up to be part of the abortion pill reversal network at AbortionPillReversal.com
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Administrative Reform: CMS, Medicaid, and MOC
High Medicaid losses from Pediatric Inpatient Care in Freestanding Children's Hospitals
About one-third of children are insured by Medicaid and children's hospitals serve many of the most complex patients. However, the findings of a recent study suggest that these hospitals may be unlikely to offset decreased Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments from caring for fewer uninsured patients as a result of health insurance expansion.
US Physicians Dissatisfied with Current MOC Programs
According to recent research, physicians perceived that current MOC activities are a burden, have little relevance or value and are neither well-supported nor well-integrated into their clinical practice. According to president and chief executive officer of the American Board of Family Medicine, "It is imperative that [American Board of Medical Specialties] member boards take these issues into account and redesign their MOC programs to become more efficient, meaningful, and impactful."
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**Featured Resource of the Month**
The American College of Pediatricians urges educators and legislators to reject all policies that condition children to accept as normal a life of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex. Facts - not ideology - determine reality.
"A man's face is not like a woman's face. A woman's voice is not like a man's voice. A man's shoulders do not look like a woman's shoulders, and a woman's hips do not look like a man's hips. "To pretend, therefore, that we do not know what we immediately and urgently perceive is to do violence at once to human nature, language, the possibility of a shared life, and the intellect's capacity to apprehend reality" -
Pronouns, Ordinary People, and the War over Reality, by The Public Discourse of the Witherspoon Institute.
Gender dysphoria (GD) of childhood describes a psychological condition in which children experience a marked incongruence between their experienced gender and the gender associated with their biological sex. When this occurs in the pre-pubertal child, GD resolves in the vast majority of patients by late adolescence.
For the facts on Gender Ideology, please view the ACPeds position Statement,
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Mental Health Update: ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, Substance Abuse, and Suicide
Global Mental Health Project "How is the World Feeling?" is the largest democratic mental health survey in the world - with the aim of
collecting over 70 million emotions. Researchers hope the survey will normalize the extremely broad range of emotions that are experienced every second of every day and
provide participants with an invaluable tool for self-reflection and support by automatically suggest localized tools and resources to any participant who logs a pattern of emotions that may need addressing.
Family Stress and Troubled Childhoods Linked to ADHD and Bipolar Disorder Children who experience family and environmental stressors, and traumatic experiences, such as poverty, mental illness, sexual abuse and exposure to violence, are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD and Bipolar Disorder according to recent research. Researchers hope the study will lead to more trauma-informed approaches to care, particularly for children whose response to stimulant medications or targeted behavioral therapies are poor.
Bipolar Disorder Increases Liklihood of Substance Abuse For some teens with bipolar disorder, the risk that they will abuse alcohol and drugs may increase as they get older and those who also have conduct disorder seem to face an even greater risk. According to researchers, it's possible that conduct disorder is at the root of the drinking and drug use as teens with bipolar disorder become young adults. Health-care professionals who treat children with bipolar disorder should also look for signs of substance abuse or cigarette smoking.
New National Institutes of Health (NIH) Plan to Advance Youth Suicide Prevention Suicide is the
2nd leading cause of death in young people aged 10 to 24 years and young adults aged 25 to 34 years. As a result, the NIH is making strides to tie all data sources together that will provide the information necessary to identify those at risk and ways to intervene. The NIH urges researchers and practitioners to
unite in order to circumvent suicide, its associated economic cost and devastating pain and suffering.
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Special Interest News, Articles and Studies
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"Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities."
- Voltaire, Philosopher, Historian and Writer
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Recent News on Pharmeceuticals
 Dexrazoxane Continues to Face Stigma Due to Outdated Study For children and adolescents, dexrazoxane has repeatedly been shown to
improve cardiovascular markers in children and not decrease the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Although the American Heart Association endorses dexrazoxane's use as a cardioprotectant among children and adolescents undergoing anthracycline chemotherapy, the drug's
use in children is not universally accepted due to concerns about toxicity, among others.
Doctor's Tool Decreases Unnecessary Antibiotic Use in Kids Respiratory tract infections with cough are the most common reason children are prescribed antibiotics. But
as many as one-third of those prescriptions may be unnecessary. The tool identifies seven key predictors that can be used to help determine whether a child with a respiratory tract infection and cough is likely to require antibiotics. If antibiotic use in low-risk children, those with only 1 (or none of the 7 key predictors) was halved, antibiotic use among children with respiratory infection and cough could be
reduced by 10%.
Healthcare Providers and Parents Should Stop Giving Codeine to Children According to a recent AAP report, a growing body of evidence suggests that codeine can cause a life-threatening or fatal breathing reaction in children. Although codeine is still available in over-the-counter cough formulas, as well as by prescription, the FDA has cautioned and recommended against use of cough medications containing codeine in children under 18 years of age.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) Vaccine Guidelines *Update* In a reversal of its recommendation last year, the ACIP in June recommended that live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV), offered as a nasal spray, should not be used in any setting. In response to a resurgence of pertussis that has led to more cases among infants, with a high mortality rate in those younger than 3 months, the ACIP recommends that all pregnant women receive Tdap during each pregnancy at 27 to 36 weeks to protect the infant at birth. In addition, the ACIP recommends the meningococcal B vaccine for adolescents and young adults aged 10 to 25 years who are at increased risk.
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Patient Handout Reminder
*
The Member Hub, the members' section of the website,
includes patient handouts shared by other ACPeds practitioners, some of which may be helpful to your own patients and practice. Contact the office to get the username and password for access to the
Member Hub.
In addition, ACPeds offers a variety of
patient handouts available for download free of charge in the
Health Professionals section of the ACPeds website. If
you have a display unit for handouts in your office, these statements are also available in a Title on Top (version). Contact the office to have a Title on Top version sent to you. Both are available on the "
Handouts
" page.
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Stay Connected
If you like what you see in the newsletter, please visit our social media pages. ACPeds likes to encourage its members to get to know one another and to stay connected. Like ACPeds on Facebook and follow on Twitter to interact with members and to stay up to date with the College's latest news. Every week the College publishes a new blog on its website and a link to the blog is posted on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
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