Exploring General Pediatrics with CHOP

General pediatrics lies across the full extent of child health, from birth to late adolescence, and from life-threatening diseases to chronic illnesses. General pediatricians are key professionals in the field, providing a holistic approach to infant care. While developing a wide range of skills through all subspecialties, they maintain a general, comprehensive knowledge, serving as a foundation of pediatric care.

When it comes to pediatrics, there is no better institution than the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to dive into the subject. The general pediatrics division at CHOP defines the care of small ones in two sections: care for inpatients referred for acute care at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and primary care on an outpatient basis through its Primary Care, CHOP Main Campus.

With CHOP’s mastery in pediatric care, hosting our usual world-class seminar in General Pediatrics was a breeze. This year, taking place from June 23 to 29, the seminar was led by course director Dr. Rebecca Tenney-Soeiro, program director for the Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellowship and the Associate Division Chief of Education and Innovation at CHOP. Dr. Tenney-Soeiro was joined by none other than Dr. Reinhold Kerbl as co-course director, Head of the Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine Department at the General Hospital of Leoben, and Vice Chairman of the Austrian working group “Children Advocacy”. The OMI joined two leading professionals from the United States and Austria resembling the core of our foundation: medical collaboration.

The curriculum reflected the holistic approach of general pediatrics, tackling specific matters in the field such as “Lymphadenopathy” and “Osteomyelitis+”, and broad, equally relevant topics, such as “Acne”, and “Anxiety and Depression”. Drs. Tenney-Soeiro and Kerbl teamed with Dr. Samuel A. Gottlieb, Medical Director for the Complex Care Gold Inpatient Service at CHOP; Dr. Katie K. Lockwood, Director of Behavioral Health Education in CHOP’s Pediatric Residency Program and Director of Education for the CHOP Primary Care Network; and Dr. Erin Pete Devon, Co-Director of the Pediatric Clerkship in the general pediatrics division at CHOP.

About the course curriculum, our course director Dr. Tenney-Soeiro states:

“The General Pediatrics seminar reviewed updates to guidelines for common diagnoses and provided the latest evidence on less common ones. Whether discussing the evaluation of fever of unknown origin, the treatment of acne, or the management of feeding intolerance in children with medical complexity, we aimed to share our knowledge and learn from our fellows”.

In the spirit of worldwide medical collaboration fostered by OMI, Dr. Tenney-Soeiro affirms:

“OMI seminars provide a wonderful opportunity to learn from and with other physicians from around the world. The structure of the course allows for community building, the sharing of knowledge, and creating relationships that we all take with us upon our return to our home institutions. The fellows’ enthusiasm in the General Pediatrics course was infectious, and it was an incredible week for all of us.”

Indeed, community building and knowledge sharing are the basis of the OMI. We could not be more thankful for the support of CHOP and the leading faculty taking precious time from their patients in their home institutions in order to support further countless lives of other patients worldwide through each fellow who attended the seminar.