March • 2020
March-ing Forward

Marching forward into the Annual Leadership Forum
We are far, far from boredom
Here’s to updates on COVID-19, CME, Pediatric Malpractice
Awareness on Sudden Unexplained Death and leadership status
President's Column
Raelene Walker, MD, FAAP
Every year the AAP holds its Annual Leadership Forum (ALF) at our national headquarters in Itasca, IL. Chapter, District and National leaders attend, along with leaders from Sections, Councils and Committees to discuss, debate and help decide our highest priorities for the AAP for the upcoming year. This is done through a rigorous process of choosing the 10 most important resolutions, or ideas, out of all the resolutions that are submitted each year. As a reminder, any member can submit a resolution. The resolutions are divided up into broad categories: Resolutions related to Advocacy, Health Care Finance, Practice, Education, or AAP Governance and Operations and are vetted and edited by the authors, in conjunction with their sponsors and district, then national ALF committees, then presented for online and virtual discussions open to all AAP members. Impressively, AAP California, one of only 10 districts, submitted 17 of 82 total resolutions this year and 10 of them are from our chapter. I would like to thank all of the authors and members who have participated in the resolution process so far this year. Strong work, AAP California, Chapter 1! ALF is March 12-14 and I look forward to supporting our chapter’s resolutions and members and sharing the outcome with everyone as well.  

I would also like to highlight the feedback of the free CME webinar on Atopic Dermatitis that we offered in February. While not a tremendous number of members were able to participate, of those that did, 95% rated the program as 5/5, with that being the highest possible rating. We are pleased to be able to offer informative and useful CME activities and education for our members. Please see the information below and on our website about our upcoming CME event on April 25 focusing on Adolescent Health.  

In closing, I would like to offer support and encouragement to all of our members, our families and communities as we work to prevent and minimize the effects of COVID-19. Given the rapidly changing aspects of this outbreak, we have compiled a list of resources on our website with the most current information. Please try to take care of yourselves as you continue to take care of children and everyone around you.
Update & Resources on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
The status of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the U.S. continues to evolve; the CDC issued a Health Alert Network on February 28, 2020 with recommendations on identifying people at risk for COVID-19 and preventing transmission. Clinical features of COVID-19 are nonspecific: fever and respiratory illness (e.g., cough or shortness of breath), and easily overlap those of more common viral illnesses such as influenza. Current recommendations are for everyone to practice good hand-washing; and for health care facilities to ask patients with symptoms about travel history and exposure to any person with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, and to collaborate on screening practices with local health departments.
 
We put together a list of resources for you from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Academy of Pediatrics, California Department of Public Health, all 48 county public health departments of our chapter and resources for children, youth and families. Please visit the At the Forefront section of our website to access them. Updates, including the most recent in the talkshow format (see below) will be posted in the same place.
San Francisco Member-At-Large Report
Rhea Boyd, MD, MPH, FAAP
I attended my first AAP advocacy committee meeting 5 years and 1 month ago. I just graduated residency. I was eager to get involved in local advocacy work but felt incredibly nervous sitting alongside attendings I long admired. So I stayed quiet for most of the meeting. Towards the end of the evening, as the meeting was nearing its close, I raised my hand and asked if we could do something about police violence.
CME Committee Update
Yasmin Carim, MD, FAAP & Mika Hiramatsu, MD, FAAP
Co-Chairs
Do you know how many teenagers are vaping these days? Do you know how to ask about relationships or self-harm? Do you know how to address use and overuse of social media and electronic devices?

Answers to these questions and more at our upcoming Adolescent Health Day, Saturday, April 25 at Partnership Health Plan offices in Fairfield. Speakers include Dr. Bonnie Halpern-Felsher on vaping and marijuana use, Dr. Shashank V. Joshi , psychiatrist, to discuss adolescent mental health, and Shafia Zaloom , adolescent health educator, addressing media use. Dr. Halpern-Felsher is associate director of the adolescent fellowship program at Stanford and creator of a youth and parent toolkit for tobacco education. Dr. Joshi is a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at Stanford and winner of an Excellence in Teaching Award in 2017. Ms. Zaloom is a popular community sex educator who has been profiled in the New York Times and has just published a new book: “Sex, Teens and Everything In Between” which we hope to have available at the meeting.

As in previous years, lectures will be followed by small group break-out sessions, which will include special guest moderators, teen medicine specialist and chapter favorite Dr. Seth Ammerman and young adult substance abuse therapist Steve Peterson . In addition, this year includes an exclusive screening of the sequel to the popular film Screenagers, followed by a Q & A with the movie’s producer Lisa Tabb . All this for less than $100 with lunch and CME credits, too! Please come join us.
Pediatric Malpractice: Lessons Learned, Part II
Key Practices to Preventing Patient Harm and Malpractice Claims
Richard L. Oken, MD, FAAP
Medical liability risk management is generally defined as any activity, process, or policy to reduce liability exposure. From a patient safety and financial perspective, it is essential that sites in which medical care is delivered conduct risk management activities aimed at reducing medical malpractice claims and more importantly preventing harm to patients. 

The following risk management guidance aims to keep your patients safe from harm and you out of court.
March is Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC) Awareness Month

SUDC is the sudden and unexpected death of a child 12 months of age or older which remains unexplained after a thorough death investigation is conducted. We are trying to raise awareness in the medical community during March, which is SUDC Awareness Month.
What We Are Reading

Op-ed on climate change, health and the tax code by Amanda Millstein, MD in the Mercury News (East Bay Times):
The SGA Side
Your Key to State Government Affairs
Nora Pfaff, MD, FAAP and Zarah Iqbal, MD, MPH
SGA Chapter Representatives

The legislature is in full swing and bills are being heard in committees all month. The State Government Affairs Committee will be meeting in early March to take positions on bills. We will have updates for you next month. In the meantime, check out where bills stand and more:
  1. To view updated AAP California bill positions, letters & outcomes from the 2019 CA Legislative year, go to aap-ca.org/bill 
  2. For latest organizational advocacy updates follow @AAPCADocs on twitter
  3. Registration for the 2020 AAP Legislative Conference is now open! The conference will take place April 5-7, 2020 in Washington, DC at the Capital Hilton Hotel.
  4. If you have questions and/or are interested in knowing more about a certain legislation, reach out to our State Government Affairs Chapter Representatives Nora Pfaff, MD, FAAP and Zarah Iqbal, MD, MPH at info@aapca1.org. 
Opportunities for Your Benefit
Healthy People 2020 Grant - Global Health
Deadline: March 31, 2020
The topic of this year's Healthy People 2020 Grant Program for Chapters is Global Health. Five AAP chapters will be awarded $20,000 each to develop and implement innovative programs. Please let the AAPCA1 Executive Committee (info@aapca1.org) know if you have an idea for this grant. The project must be approved by the chapter and the chapter can support one project per grant cycle. View the Request for Proposals , Application and Scoresheet . The grants are supported by the AAP Friends of Children Fund. 
April 25, 2020: Spring CME Conference: Adolescent Health, Fairfield - REGISTER NOW !

December 5, 2020: 5th Annual Pediatric Puzzles - SAVE THE DATE!

Our mission is to promote the optimal health and development of children and
adolescents of Northern California in partnership with their families and communities, and to support the pediatricians who care for them.


President: Raelene Walker • Vice President: Nelson Branco
• Secretary: Janice Kim • Treasurer : Nivedita More • Past President: John Takayama
Executive Director: Isra Uz-Zaman