Site Description
The Primary Pediatric Center (PPC) at Cincinnati Children's Hospital has over 35,000 patient visits per year, providing primary pediatric care to children from birth to adolescents. The patient population served is about 88% Medicaid and 5% uninsured. The clinic is open 6 days a week, as well as five evenings throughout the week. At the PPC, there are >20 attending physicians that have at least one shift per week. In addition, it is a large teaching facility with 160 residents and medical students training in the clinic each year. The PPC is integrally tied to the broader Cincinnati Children's Community Health Initiative. The aspiration for this Initiative is, “Together with families and the community we will help Cincinnati's kids to be the healthiest in the nation.”
Job Description
- Gain insight into how financial barriers and social issues affect the basic healthcare of children.
- Acquire knowledge regarding legal procedures and involvement in health care.
- Assist Dr. Andrew Beck in Public Health and Quality Improvement research, including as it pertains to the Community Health Initiative and the regional response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Work with different community groups and obtain exposure to patient advocacy.
- Shadow residents, attending physicians, and social workers regularly in the PPC clinic as well as other specialties.
- Attend meetings throughout the summer with Dr. Beck and the other members of the Division of General and Community Pediatrics.
- Preference given to Pediatrics Scholars and individuals with prior public health experience.
Intern Quote
“My summer internship with UHP and CCHMC was an incredible experience and I am so grateful to have been able to participate in a number of exciting projects.
Most of my summer was involved with the Pediatric Patient & Family Advisory Council (PFAC) study in collaboration with CCHMC and the Institute for Patient & Family Centered Care (IPFCC). PFACs are focus-group/committee organizations composed of patients, family members, and hospital staff such as physicians and nurses, child life staff, and others. Since the literature on these groups, particularly in children's hospitals, is limited, we sought to explore the current landscape of PFACs across the country. Over the summer we surveyed and subsequently interviewed 12 children's hospital PFAC representatives to gain insight into recruitment strategies, DEI efforts, COVID transition successes/challenges, and other areas. It was such a pleasure speaking with these PFAC representatives, and I learned so much about the importance of PFACs and the impact that they can have in offering a platform and a voice for patients and families. After completing the interviews this summer, I plan to stay involved during the fall with the analysis and final report that will ultimately be published for the broader field.
During the summer I also attended weekly COVID-19 meetings related to a variety of different topics, such as COVID-19 vaccination rates as well as case counts given the surge of the Delta variant. Through these meetings I learned about many unique strategies that were being built to increase vaccination rates, such as holding various community events, vaccine ambassador events, and offering the COVID vaccine in pediatric clinics for parents and family members in addition to eligible patients. The team and I came up with the idea to create a slide deck that would include COVID-19/vaccine FAQs to be shared on the TV screens at the community clinic. The slide deck included common FAQS and I also included QR codes to short Youtube videos created by Cincinnati Children's addressing different COVID/vaccine concerns. This was an exciting project and I enjoyed thinking of creative ways to best share my research in a way that would be accessible and informative.
One final experience I'd like to share was the very unique opportunity I had to attend Cincinnati’s inaugural Children and Families Cabinet meeting downtown at City Hall. People of all backgrounds and expertise came together and we did an exercise looking at issues of health, culture and societal exposure, career opportunities, housing, and safety pertaining to children. This was a really cool experience and I look forward to hearing more about the development of this new cabinet in the future!
– Jesse Hsu