Group Well Child visits for Latino children whose parents have limited English proficiency will be the focus of one grant.

Christina DuVernay

Date: 06/16/2017

The Johns Hopkins Primary Care Consortium has announced recipients of its 2017–2018 small grants, which are meant to encourage innovation in primary care delivery and improve related health outcomes. One project that was awarded funding will design a group Well Child visit program at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center for Latino children whose parents have limited proficiency in English.

Assistant professor of pediatrics Rachel Thornton, one of the project’s applicants, says that some research suggests that group Well Child visits may address children’s health needs while also increasing parental involvement and knowledge about child development and parenting practices. Along with her co-applicants (listed below), she is working with the Latino Family Advisory Board to craft a program that is responsive to the specific needs of this population, including parents’ mental health needs.

“We’ve noted significant levels of maternal distress associated with becoming a new parent and the recent immigrant experience. Access to mental health services is very limited for this population,” Thornton says.

The group will be visiting other pediatric clinics to learn from them, says assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences Rheanna Platt, another one of the project’s investigators. “We would like to identify metrics we might all want to follow so we can best share what we’re learning about how group Well Child visits affect outcomes.”

A project led by Rosalyn Stewart, director of the Johns Hopkins After-Care Clinic, aims to prepare future nurse practitioners to work in underserved urban environments. Toward that end, it has a strong multidisciplinary, team-based emphasis; among its co-applicants are a nurse practitioner, social worker and pharmacist. “Our clinic delivers team-based care to marginalized people who tend to have extremely low health literacy and face numerous socioeconomic barriers. We are educating future primary care providers to know what to ask and think about, what other team members to call on, when treating someone who’s homeless, for instance, or when they have to deal with an extremely limited formulary,” says Stewart.

The project’s investigators will use the funding to craft a 15-week curriculum that will cover the social determinants of health and understanding Maryland’s health care system, among other topics. The aim is to educate three cohorts per year, with about four nurse practitioner students per cohort.

Here are the funded projects for 2017–2018:

Primary Care Providers’ Knowledge, Practices, Attitudes and Beliefs About Prediabetes: A National Survey
Applicant: Eva Tseng, M.D., M.P.H.
Faculty Mentor:  Nisa Maruthur, M.D., M.H.S.
Collaborating Faculty:  Raquel Greer, M.D., M.H.S.; and Jeanne Clark, M.D., M.P.H.

An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Design, Implementation and Evaluation of Group Well Child Visits for Latino Children of Limited English Proficiency Parents
Co-applicants:   Rachel Thornton, M.D., Ph.D., Nakiya Showell, M.D., M.P.H.; Sarah Polk, M.D., Sc.M., Rheanna Platt, M.D., M.P.H.; Lisa R. DeCamp, M.D., M.P.H.; and Wendy L. Bennett, M.D., M.P.H.

Optimizing Primary Care Education Through an Interprofessional Multidisciplinary Curriculum Within the Johns Hopkins After Care Clinic
Principal Investigators: Rosalyn Stewart, M.D., M.S., M.B.A.; and Brent MacDonald, M.D.
Investigators:  Arjun Chanmugam, M.D., M.B.A.; Caitlin Dowd, Pharm.D., BCPS, BCACP; Fernando Mena-Carrasco, M.S.W., B.S.N., R.N.; and Sophia Pemberton, M.S.N., B.S.N., CRNP

Use of the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit in a Mid-Atlantic Primary Care Network
Principal Investigator:  Stephanie Nothelle, M.D.
Study Team:  Cynthia Boyd, M.D., M.P.H.; Jessica Colburn, M.D.; Maura McGuire, M.D.

Marginal and Underserved Populations Within the Patient-Centered Medical Home:  Addressing Gaps in the Literature with Evidence from a Statewide Multi-Payor Pilot Scheme
Principal Investigator:  Jill A. Marsteller, Ph.D., M.P.P.
Co-Investigators:  Oludolapo A. Fakeye, M.A.; Romsai Tony Boonyasai, M.D., M.P.H.; and Maura McGuire, M.D., FACP