Student Researcher Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California Fallston, Maryland, United States
Background: Pediatricians post-covid are overwhelmed with patients who have mental health concerns. Across the globe over half of children below the age of 14 are presenting with mental health issues (García-Carrió et al. 2019). Both mental health professionals and pediatricians are currently overwhelmed. Pediatric residency programs offer minimal mental health training and most focus on ADHD. Inevitably pediatricians finish residency with knowledge gaps when treating mental health conditions. A study done in 2021 found that pediatricians are significantly more comfortable providing referrals compared to treatment plans (Bettencourt et al. 2021). However, patient volumes are inundating these mental health service systems, rendering referrals practically futile. Therefore, clinicians in an FQHC affiliated with an academic medical center created an intervention to address knowledge and skill gaps. Objective: To explore the challenges in addressing pediatric mental health complaints, compare background foundational knowledge of these conditions, and investigate the effectiveness of an educational intervention carried out by our team. Design/Methods: IRB approval was granted by the institution to conduct recorded interviews on zoom with participants who provided informed verbal consent prior to recording. Pre-interviews were performed on zoom with participants given the option to have the camera on/off. The interview script used qualitative methods with the intent to better understand participants' learning goals for the educational intervention, what their current knowledge gaps are, and their personal struggles in treating mental health. The educational event was a 4 hour didactic seminar presented to pediatricians with CME credit both online and in person. One month after the event post-interviews were conducted, these focused on how participants' practice had changed, and investigated ongoing challenges with mental health treatment. Using the data from the interviews we will create a conceptual framework and extract specific themes with the intent to inform future interventions.