Pediatric Consultation-Liaison Special Interest Group

The mission of the Pediatric Consultation-Liaison Special Interest Group (PEDIATRIC-CL SIG) is to promote discussion, education, research and networking among pediatric psychologists who provide inpatient consultation-liaison services to pediatric patients and their families. Issues of relevance to PEDIATRIC-CL SIG activities include:

  • Pediatric CL service quality improvement (QI) projects
  • Specific clinical protocols tailored to pediatric inpatient populations
  • Clinical innovations, including applications of technology to inpatient consultation-liaison (Internet-based, use of video, gaming technology, tele-psychology, etc.)
  • Promotion and sharing of clinician- and hospital-friendly assessment/ evaluation protocols and interventions
  • Pediatric CL outcomes projects
  • Professional and training activities relevant to pediatric CL and inter-professional functioning
  • Pediatric CL program development, organization of clinical services and workforce analyses
  • Applications of evidence-based interventions in “real world” settings
  • Addressing potential barriers and solutions to meet the needs of diverse populations seen on the pediatric CL service
  • Critical analyses of professional practice issues
  • Funding/reimbursement patterns and the evaluation of the cost-effectiveness and medical cost offset of pediatric CL activities
  • Developing research models appropriate to pediatric CL service activities
  • Fostering cooperation and multidisciplinary collaboration among professionals in meeting the psychosocial needs of hospitalized children and their families

Projects

Establishing a Pediatric CL Practitioner Resource Bank for Inpatient Pediatric CL Assessment Instruments, Intervention Protocols, Policy and Procedural Documents

Since the establishment of the Division 54 CL SIG at the national conference meeting in San Antonio in April 2011, it has been our goal to set up an online resource for pediatric psychologists to share and access various user-friendly resources that our members could use in conducting inpatient pediatric consultations in children’s hospital settings. Many attendees expressed a strong desire to have a way to both share and get easier access to the experiences and expertise of our colleagues to better serve the patients, families and health care professionals with whom we work.

Resource bank submission can include the following:

  • Assessment Instruments – Developing and sharing measures for key assessment domains (coping, adherence, illness knowledge, symptoms, pain, self-management competence, family functioning, risk assessment, etc.).
  • Intervention Protocols – Pediatric CL clinicians and researchers submitting treatment protocols, therapeutic tools, patient handouts, clinical forms, etc. This could spur more research on these protocols, ideally at multiple sites.
  • Digital Resources – Identifying (and developing) useful applications (apps) and digital resources (e.g., videos); identify (and encourage the development of) useful websites for patient information and education as well as clinician education and training, etc.
  • Quality Improvement Procedures and Measures – identifying strategies and tools for QI projects (e.g., confidence ratings completed by physicians and other staff members); developing ways to demonstrate that we are effective and valuable to the institution (e.g., medical cost offsets/reimbursement models)
  • Business of Practice Information – Categorizing reimbursement models, identifying pros and cons of each, and how might we better collaborate as a group to advocate for the more adaptive models that make our profession and services economically viable now and in the future.
  • Forms and Documents – consent, video releases, etc.
  • Practice/Advocacy Materials
  • Training Protocols – syllabi and tools (e.g., discussion of how we integrate with psychiatry, pediatrics, developmental and behavioral pediatrics, etc., and their training programs; developing “best practice” models for training that could be adopted by other institutions; training tools CL psychologists can employ with medical students, medical residents, nursing students, etc., to identify core curriculum goals, modules and teaching strategies (e.g., labs)

Submissions: Division 54 members should submit documents and materials in support of this project via email.

All documents should be attached to your email and in an acceptable digital format, preferably PDF or Word. You should provide the following:

  • Contact information (email address, phone, mailing address, etc.) so that someone interested in your work can readily contact you
  • Statement of permission for others to use your materials
  • A disclaimer of responsibility for the use of your materials

While full empirical support for your materials is not required, any data you might have supporting efficacy, reliability, patient satisfaction, etc., should be included.

Submitted materials will be shared with a group of Pediatric CL practitioners to be reviewed for their appropriateness to be shared on a password protected website (for Division 54 members) where they can be viewed and downloaded for use by fellow professionals. We plan to post these materials on the Children’s Health & Illness Recovery Program website, which is password protected and accessible to interested Division 54 and CL SIG members.

Join

Requests to join the PEDIATRIC-CLSIG should be sent to the SPP Administrative Officer, who will confirm whether the individual is a current SPP member and provide membership approval. There are no additional dues for the PEDIATRIC-CL SIG beyond the SPP annual dues.