Apply to be considered for participation in the project by Monday, December 2, 2024.

Introduction
Thank you for your interest in joining this virtual AAP Rural-health Community of Practice focused on strategies for improving care for children living with birth defects and infant disorders (BDID) and their families. This project specifically targets practices and/or hospitals in rural areas because of the unique challenges and resource limitations they might face. A community of practice (COP) is a group of individuals with a shared interest who collaborate to achieve personal and collective goals, emphasizing the exchange of best practices and knowledge to enhance their professional field through ongoing interaction. By fostering collaboration and knowledge-sharing, we aim to empower pediatric clinicians in rural areas to enhance the quality of care provided for infants and children with BDID. As much as possible, the project will highlight the following conditions: congenital syphilis (CS) and congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV).

The American Academy of Pediatrics is recruiting up to nine (9) rural pediatric practices and/or pediatric hospital teams to participate in this project. We highly encourage participation of multidisciplinary teams which may include pediatricians, family medicine providers, pediatric subspecialists, nurses, social workers, and other physician and non-physician clinicians. At a minimum, teams must have a pediatric clinician/pediatrician.

The rural-health community of practice will comprise of four (4) structured educational sessions (1-hour each) held bi-monthly, with a strong emphasis on peer-to-peer learning and collaborative discussion. To enrich these discussions, we require participating practice and hospital teams to share a case study and/or their experiences- whether successes or challenges- related to the session topic area in providing care for infants and children with BDID. In addition, all participants will have access to an online shared workspace where they can access session recordings, discussion boards, and share resources and best practices among their peers. High-speed internet is required to participate.

Practice/hospital teams selected to participate will be expected to participate in all the following virtual educational sessions (each will be held from 12-1pm CT):

January 15, 2025: Recommended care process(es) for optimal outcomes; condition specific for congenital syphilis (CS) and congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV)

March 19, 2025: Navigating difficult conversations in medicine and building trust with patients

May 21, 2025: Partnering with my clinicians for success: My lived experience

July 16, 2025: How to best equip clinicians to support families, and overcoming challenges in rural pediatric care

Contact Dzeneta Dujkovic (ddujkovic@aap.org) for additional information about this project.
This project is being implemented by the American Academy of Pediatrics via a cooperative agreement (grant #NU01DD000032) with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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* 1. Please enter contact information for the person completing this application:

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* 2. Please enter contact information in the boxes below for the lead pediatric clinician from your rural practice/hospital:

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* 3. Is your pediatric practice/hospital located in a rural area?

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* 4. Please briefly describe why you would like to participate in this project and what you hope to get out of this:

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* 5. Pediatric practice/hospital team members: Please include name, title (eg, nurse, social worker, etc.) and email address for each team member if applicable. At a minimum, teams must have a pediatric clinician/pediatrician.

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* 6. If selected, will at least one member of the team be able to provide a case study focused on providing care for an infant/child with a BDID, preferably CS or cCMV, for discussion during one of the scheduled educational/peer-to-peer learning sessions?

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* 7. If selected, will at least one member of the team be able to discuss their practice/hospital’s strengths/challenges related to one of the session topic areas in providing care for infants and children with BDID?

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* 8. If yes to question #7, check which topic area(s) your team would be interested in sharing their experiences for:

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