ABSTRACT
Paediatricians and other child health professionals have a key role in identifying, preventing or mitigating the impacts of poverty on child health. Approaching a problem as vast and intractable as poverty can seem daunting. This article will outline how social determinants impact child health, and provide practical guidance on how to address this problem through a public health lens. The aim is to give frontline practitioners a straightforward, evidence-based framework and practical solutions for tackling child poverty, across three levels: (1) the clinical consultation; (2) the clinical service for the population of children and young people we serve and (3) with a broader policy and social view.
Subject(s)
Child Poverty , Public Health , Adolescent , Child , Child Health , Humans , Pediatricians , Poverty , Referral and ConsultationSubject(s)
Ambulatory Care/methods , Pediatricians/statistics & numerical data , Remote Consultation/instrumentation , Videoconferencing/instrumentation , Adolescent , COVID-19/diagnosis , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/virology , Child , Delivery of Health Care/methods , Healthcare Disparities/statistics & numerical data , Hearing , Humans , Referral and Consultation/trends , SARS-CoV-2/genetics , User-Computer InterfaceABSTRACT
This article describes the rapid, system-wide reconfiguration of local and network services in response to the newly described paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2 (PIMS-TS) (also known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children). Developing the model of care for this novel disease, whose natural history, characteristics and treatment options were still unclear, presented distinct challenges.We analyse this redesign through the lens of healthcare management science, and outline transferable principles which may be of specific and urgent relevance for paediatricians yet to experience the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; and more generally, for those developing a new clinical service or healthcare operating model to manage the sudden emergence of any unanticipated clinical entity. Health service leaders in areas where COVID-19 is, or will soon be, in the ascendancy, and who are anticipating the imminent influx of PIMS-TS, should use these principles and recommendations to plan an agile, responsive and system-wide model of care for these children.