Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
661 Moore Road
King of Prussia, PA
United States
The Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (PA AAP) is affiliated with the national AAP but is a separate nonprofit organization. PA AAP supports the national agenda for children and work on children’s initiatives that are specific to Pennsylvania, particularly through education. There are approximately 2,300 pediatrician members of this chapter.
The PA AAP will assemble an advisory group of parents, medical and dental professional, school nurses & administrators, and various state advocacy and health care partners, like the Pennsylvania Coalition for Oral Health, to guide the creation of targeted educational resources for school nurses, including a webinar and an Oral Health Toolkit for schools. The project will also seek to train 30 school nurses to implement the education, interventions (Topical Fluoride Varnish), and referral processes outlined in the toolkit to promote expansion and participation with the toolkit across the state.
In addition to training these professionals and working with other oral health stakeholders to capture learnings and recommendations from this project, the PA AAP will engage community organizations representing the voices of underserved and underrepresented populations to inform the selection of content and schools for this pilot. The partner organizations and groups will be consulted to participate directly in engaging their community members. The PA AAP will also focus on developing a partnership with the PA Association of School Nurses and Practitioners and the PA Parent Teacher Association. Evaluation of this project will include pre- and post-training surveys, interviews with at least 5 school nurses to assess impact, and a post-project update to assess technical assistance needs beyond the grant period. Other goals for the project period include the:
- Completed design and creation of the Oral Health Toolkit for Schools and Oral Health in Your School webinar offering Act 48 approved credits, and
- Recruitment of at least 1 district to implement a school-based topical fluoride varnish program.
The requested funding will support projects staff (2), travel for focus group meetings and interviews, stipends for interview participants, and office expenses. The funding recommended is approximately 2% of the organization’s overall budget and PA AAP will work to leverage the project’s model to secure federal grant funding in partnership with the state Medicaid office.