National Jewish Health Receives Grant to Provide Atopic Dermatitis Education to Denver Pediatric Clinic

National Jewish Health (NJH) has received an educational grant from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to improve the care of pediatric patients with atopic dermatitis in a medically underserved population. The one-year $586,511 independent medical educational program grant from GSK will be used by NJH to train health care providers and team members from Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics (RMYC) to better diagnose and manage their atopic dermatitis patients, and ultimately improve patient care and quality of life in the Denver metropolitan area.

“Undiagnosed and untreated atopic dermatitis can have a crippling effect on patients and their families,” said program Chair, Mark Boguniewicz, MD, Professor, Division of Pediatric Allergy-Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, NJH, and the University Of Colorado School Of Medicine.  “This grant provides NJH with an opportunity to share our expertise with the community and to develop a relationship with our colleagues at RMYC.”

Physicians who complete “Targeting the Atopic March: Best Practice Improvement in the Diagnosis, Managing Atopic Dermatitis” will earn 20 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits^™, while nursing CEUs and pharmacist CPEs are still to be determined.  In addition, the live training has been approved for Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Part II credit from the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP), and an application had been submitted to the ABP for MOC Part IV credit.  The program kicked off with a live training on September 20, 2012.

"We are very excited to be collaborating with NJH on this atopic dermatitis project. A partnership between Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics and this nationally-renowned organization will produce something that truly improves the quality of life of our patients with eczema,” said Sophia G Meharena, MD, Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics.  “I look forward to the training they will provide and the resources we will be able to develop together. In addition, I anticipate this will be the beginning of a long term relationship between our organizations."

“Targeting the Atopic March: Managing Atopic Dermatitis” is organized into three initiatives.  The first initiative focuses on providing evidence-based atopic dermatitis diagnosis and treatment education to a multidisciplinary team at RMYC.  Faculty and staff from NJH will provide live interdisciplinary interactive workshops and in-clinic reviews and trainings to support team delivery of sustainable atopic dermatitis care.

The second component provides materials and education to patients, encouraging effective self-management of their illness.  Point-of-care patient education materials, in English and Spanish, and educational tools to help health care providers teach and communicate with patients to support effective self-management of atopic dermatitis will be developed. NJH has partnered with the National Eczema Association (NEA), an organization dedicated to improving the health and quality of life of patients with eczema through research, support and education, to provide resources and educational materials. “The National Eczema Association is delighted to partner with all stakeholders involved in eczema treatment, especially with the renowned National Jewish Health.  We share the common goal of educating medical professionals, patients and caregivers alike to help successfully manage this chronic condition,” said Julie Block, Chief Executive Officer of the NEA.

Lastly, RMYC will make improvements that include development and integration of quality processes, as well as new prompts within the electronic medical record for patients that exhibit symptoms associated with atopic dermatitis, or who have a positive diagnosis.

A roundtable Multidisciplinary Panel Discussion featuring expert faculty will disseminate the performance improvement outcomes of this initiative to a national audience of health care providers through an enduring internet CME activity on Medscape’s medical education learning portal.

NJH has partnered with HealthCare Research, Inc. to measure the success of the educational program by evaluating key indicators related to improving the care of patients with atopic dermatitis.

Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics (RMYC) is one of the country’s most innovative “private practices of public health,” providing pediatric care to children, regardless of a family’s ability to pay.  In addition to three traditional office-based practices, RMYC is a “medical home” that offers quality health services to children at more than 40 mobile, community and school-based sites around the state.   RMYC sees approximately 35,000 patients each year through 55,000 patient visits.  2011 marked RMYC’s 15^th year as a nonprofit, reaching just over 500,000 patient visits since its inception. RMYC provides care to an underserved population, and the majority of its patients are uninsured or using Medicaid.

National Jewish Health is known worldwide for treatment of patients with respiratory, cardiac, immune and related disorders, and for groundbreaking medical research. Founded in 1899 as a nonprofit hospital, National Jewish remains the only health care organization in the world dedicated exclusively to these disorders. Since 1998, U.S. News & World Report has ranked National Jewish the #1 respiratory hospital in the nation.

National Jewish Health is accredited by the Accreditation Council of Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The National Eczema Association (NEA) is the only organization in the United States advocating solely for eczema patients.  NEA is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization governed by a Board of Directors and guided by a Scientific Advisory Committee.  NEA improves the health and quality of life for individuals with eczema through research, support, and education.  Contact us at: info@nationaleczema.org or www.nationaleczema.org

HealthCare Research, Inc. (HCR) is a nationally-recognized leader in measuring and assessing the patient-clinician experience.  HCR developed the Art of Medicine^SM survey tool as a precise and efficient approach for evaluating patient-clinician interactions.  The Art of Medicine^SM tool has been successfully used for hundreds of thousands of patient-provider interactions over the last 25 years.  Beyond measurement, contributing to positive changes in the health care landscape requires collaborative efforts, and HealthCare Research’s expertise in the industry brings the perspectives of all parties – payers, brokers, insurers, facilities/infrastructure, medical providers, staff and patients – to the table, producing solutions which move health care processes and outcomes forward in a synergistic manner. 

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) – one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. For more information about the company’s support of medical education, visit the GSK Center for Medical Education website.