Pediatric Pandemic Network domains share top priorities

On Nov. 19, more than 100 team members and stakeholders from the Center for Pediatric Everyday Readiness-Pediatric Pandemic Network (PPN) convened virtually to kick off the network. The PPN, which was funded Sept. 1 through a $48 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), aims to improve pediatric disaster preparedness nationwide--in part through improving everyday pediatric emergency readiness.

At the kick-off, PPN Co-Principal Investigators Charles Macias, MD, MPH, and Christopher Newton, MD, FACS, FAAP, alongside PPN Project Managers Jen Pesarchick, MPH, and Milissa Chanice presented updates on the network’s structure, details about its participating hubs and partners (view a detailed map here), and guiding principles--including a drafted mission statement and core values. Lorah Ludwig, HRSA’s PPN project officer, also provided remarks.

Leads across the network’s 19 total domains then shared their primary long-term goals and single-most important activity over the next six to nine months.

The single-most important activities over the next six to nine months are listed below:

Disaster Preparedness-Related Domains:

• Surge Capacity & Surveillance: Create an implementation survey for the Eastern Great Lakes Pediatric Consortium for Disaster Response’s pediatric Hazard and Vulnerability Analysis (HVA) tool that will be used to evaluate the use of the pediatric HVA tool for the five hub hospitals. (Domain Leads: Brent Kaziny, MD, MA, and Sarita Chung, MD)
• Deployable Assets & Pediatric Coordination: Kick-off workshop for hub site representatives. The event will provide background on pediatric-specific state medical operations coordination cell and do initial work group planning for year one. (Domain Lead: Ron Ruffing, MPH, MPS)
• Infectious Disease: Establish the National Pandemic Advisory Committee (Domain Lead: Nicolaus Glomb, MD, MPH)
• Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear: Establish a partnership with Poison Control Centers and Radiation Treatment Network in each of the five Center for Pediatric Everyday Readiness regions. (Domain Lead: Nicolaus Glomb, MD, MPH)
• Reunification: Recruit hospitals to evaluate the American Academy of Pediatrics' Hospital Reunification Toolkit and initiate baseline assessment and implementation. (Domain Leads: Rachel Charney, MD, and Sarita Chung, MD)

Everyday Readiness Domains:

• Pediatric Readiness: Engage children’s hospitals and associated regional or corporate networks in quality improvement collaboratives including Mental Health, Disaster Networking, and Pediatric Readiness Quality Collaborative. (Domain Lead: Kate Remick, MD)
• Trauma/Burns: Promotion of pediatric emergency care coordinator development in trauma centers. (Domain Lead: Mary Fallat, MD, FACS, FAAP)
• Mental Health/Behavioral Health: Identify steps for obtaining hub hospital stakeholders’ (parents, families, children/adolescents, teachers, health care providers) feedback from each network. (Domain Leads: Kimberly Burkhart, PhD, Carolyn Landis, PhD, MA, and Chip Schreiber, PhD)
• Prehospital: Support EMS agency participation in the Disaster Networking Collaborative. (Domain Leads: Kathleen Adelgais, MD, MPH/MSPH)

Access to Care Domains:

• Equity and Regionalization of Care: Help to create and conduct an environmental scan/needs assessment that includes tribal/critical access hospitals. (Domain Leads: Hilary Hewes, MD, and Sarah Ronis, MD, MPH)
• Health Information Portability: Create survey regarding practices in interoperability of electronic health record/electronic medical record platforms during the pandemic. (Domain Lead: Clark Cullen, MD)
• Telemedicine: Create a telehealth assessment tool for hospitals. (Domain Lead: Marie Lozon, MD, FAAP)
• Community and Medical Home: Use the seated Advisory Council to review the gap analysis for enablers, barriers and strategies to integrate disaster preparedness concepts into the medical home. (Domain Leads: Steve Krug, MD, Brent Kaziny, MD, MA, Sarita Chung, MD, and Deanna Dahl-Grove, MD)

Cross-Cutting Domains:

• Analytics: Recruit data scientist to begin the framework for the analytics core build using consultant to identify roles and support the scientist. (Domain Lead: Charles Macias, MD, MPH)
• Research: Development of a national research agenda for pediatric disaster medicine, to include identification of panel members and a modified Delphi process. (Domain Leads: Rachel Stanley, MB, BCh, LRCP&SI, ECFMG, MHSA, and Corrie Chumpitazi, MD, MS)
• Collaboratives: Ensure a shared mental model for purpose, structure, timeline and content development for collaboratives across PPN domains. (Domain Lead: Kate Remick, MD)
• Drills and Exercises: Kick-off workshop for hub site representatives committed to collaborate on development and delivery of exercises through the next five years. (Domain Lead: Ron Ruffing, MPH, MPS)
• Knowledge, Education, and Communications Core: Establish bidirectional communication with each domain and hub hospital to dialogue about gaps between existing and needed educational resources. (Domain Leads: Marc Auerbach, MD, FAAP, MSc, Corrie Chumpitazi, MD, MS, Moh Saidinejad, MD, MBA, FAAP, FACEP, Mark Cicero, MD, and Pat Frost, BSN, MSN)
• Legal/Ethical Domain: Establish both Advisory Council and domain workgroup, which will construct scan/survey of State and Regional Emergency Order powers, disaster licensure and liability processes, Emergency Management Assistance Compact and cross-border memorandum of understanding experience, Child Protection and Reunification statutes, and state guidance on Crisis Standards establishment and use. (Domain Lead: Marie Lozon, MD, FAAP)

The Nov. 19 event follows a two-day strategic planning meeting in October.

View a PDF of the kick-off slides here.