The recent pandemic brought forth the need for provider and community education in infectious disease and understanding of how a pandemic, and potentially resulting shift to an endemic, impacts life and people on a large scale. This includes addressing the decline in preventative well-child visits and decrease in childhood vaccination rates. AzAAP has established the Arizona Pediatric Infectious Disease Training Center to provide high-quality education and training around infectious disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, and to meet the emerging needs of providers and families.
The Arizona Pediatric Infectious Disease Training Center supports healthcare professionals by providing timely information and resources as they provide care and counseling to patients and families, both in-person and through virtual telehealth settings. The Training Center is the home for a broad range of infectious disease related resources, webinars, podcasts, and toolkits, and serves as a resource to help AzAAP members address concerns and safely provide care to patients.
The Training Center delivers a biweekly podcast series answering direct questions from providers about infectious disease topics and providing real-time support as they continue to maintain essential health services and systems of care for their patients and families. The podcast, ID Talk: Answers from an Infectious Disease Specialist, features Pediatric Infectious Disease Specialist and Chapter Leader, Dr. Sean Elliott, who discusses the most up-to-date, evidence-based, Arizona-specific information while addressing emerging issues surrounding infectious disease prevention, outbreaks, and treatment.
AzAAP would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Arizona Pediatric Infectious Disease Training Center by the Arizona Department of Health Services through the Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant funding.
To have your infectious disease related questions and experiences considered for upcoming Podcast discussions, please send your questions and comments using ID@azaap.org.
For archived podcasts, click here.
RESOURCES
Protect Against COVID-19, RSV, and Flu
AzAAP partnered with pediatricians at North Country HealthCare to create a downloadable and sharable social media campaign focused on the importance of the COVID, RSV, and flu vaccination. A downloadable flyer was also created to support pediatricians in their discussions with parents and caregivers, available in English, Spanish, and Navajo.
Increasing HPV Vaccination Rates
AzAAP partnered with pediatricians at Yuma Regional Medical Center and Sunset Health to create a trusted messenger campaign highlighting the importance of vaccinating for HPV at age 9. A flyer has been created to aid providers in these difficult conversations around the HPV vaccines, available in English and Spanish.
Measles on the Rise
AzAAP has created a trusted messenger campaign to emphasize the critical importance of vaccinating children against measles and the severe risks associated with non-vaccination. Two downloadable flyers were created to support pediatricians in their discussions on measles vaccination with parents and caregivers.
When to Keep Your Child Home From School
The Arizona School Health and Wellness Council created the "When to keep your child home from school" flyer that schools can utilize to provide guidance on when students should stay home to prevent the spread of infectious disease to be shared with school health professionals and parents. The one-pager allows members of a school community to clearly and concisely provide guidance in one easy complied resource. This flyer is available in English and Spanish.
Tackling Emerging Threats of Congenital Syphilis & Hepatitis C
AzAAP and the Surveillance for Emerging Threats to Mothers and Babies Network (SET-NET) identified the urgent need for educating healthcare providers on strategies for early identification and informed clinical guidance concerning hepatitis c and congenital syphilis. Through this project we created a comprehensive communication campaign that aimed to enhanced provider knowledge, competence, and performance.
Increasing COVID-19, RSV, & Flu Vaccine Confidence
AzAAP has collaborated with The Arizona Partnership for Immunization (TAPI) to develop a trusted messenger campaign and resources aimed to increase COVID-19, RSV, and flu vaccine confidence and uptake with a focus on children under 5. In addition to targeted social media, members can download a free COVID-19 flyer.
Start a Conversation
AzAAP partnered with pediatric professionals at Chiricahua Community Health Centers, Inc. (CCHCI), and home visiting agencies as part of our trusted messenger campaign. Creating targeted social media messages for members highlighting vaccine timing and reducing missed opportunities for vaccines. A downloadable flyer in English and Spanish is also available.
Flu Facts
AzAAP partnered with pediatricians at Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation (TCRHCC), and North Country HealthCare to create a downloadable and sharable social media campaign focused on the importance of the influenza vaccine. Two downloadable flyers were created to support pediatricians in their discussions with parents and caregivers. Another flyer was specifically created for the Native American population within the county and made available in Navajo translation.
Healthy Horizons
AzAAP worked in collaboration with the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) and the Arizona Partnership for Immunization (TAPI) to develop a pro-vaccine video campaign. Through testimonial style conversations, this campaign aims to increase awareness and highlight the benefits of vaccination for patients. We are sharing these videos with AzAAP members ahead of the official release from, and with the permission of, ADHS so you can preview the tremendous job these pediatricians did at explaining the importance of vaccination.
The physicians featured in these videos are dedicated AzAAP chapter leaders and members from 6 different counties: Yuma, Pima, Coconino, Maricopa, Mohave, and Cochise. We are incredibly proud of the passion and work that these physicians are doing in their communities, and we believe their stories will inspire and inform. We hope you find these videos as impactful and meaningful as we do.
CDC's Project Firstline
Project Firstline aims to educate all US health care workers with the foundational understanding of infection prevention and control (IPC) to protect the nation from infectious disease threats. The AAP is one of several partners in this initiative. As a Project Firstline partner, the AAP serves as a virtual training center on infection prevention and control. The goal of the center is to expand and strengthen the capacity, collaboration, and coordination of pediatric health care providers surrounding infection prevention and control, and to improve the health of all children and their families. Project Firstline recourses can be found here CDC Project Firstline or AAP Project Firstline.
Tdap Guidance
Tdap Guidance for Schools: this easy to read poster clarifies the guidance/timeline for Tdap administration. AzAAP collaborated closely with the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) to create a flyer that is easy to read and understand and distributed it to schools through a partnership with the School Nurses Association (SNOA). Download this flyer for your schools or practices.
National Immunization Awareness Month 2023
AzAAP and the Arizona Partnership for Immunizations (TAPI) collaborated together during National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM) to craft two impactful social media tiles (found in the Downloads above) designed to boost child immunization awareness in Arizona.
Mini Podcast Series
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention partnered to provide healthcare professionals with a limited-edition mini-podcast series recorded in April 2023 on Hot Topics in Infection Prevention and Control. This three-part series, hosted by pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Sean Elliott, dives into the scope of the problem, infection prevention measures, and provider adherence. Also hear from special guest, Suzette Chavez, Director of Infection Prevention at TMC One, as she answers interview questions on possible interventions for respiratory virus transmission in the hospital setting. Listen now.
COVID Vaccine Conversation Card for Parents/Guardians
The COVID-19 Public Education Campaign is an initiative to increase confidence in COVID-19 vaccines and reinforce basic prevention measures. Printable resource for health care providers to share with the parents/guardians of patients to help build vaccine confidence. Available in English and Spanish download your copy now.
The Arizona Pediatric Infectious Disease Training Center is brought to you by:
Arizona Pediatric Quality Improvement Institute (APQII) is a program of AzAAP that identifies the needs of pediatric professionals across the state to support their work and set the standard for pediatric health care in Arizona.