Spotlight QI: Online Communities of Practice in Paediatrics
Virtual resources and collaborations from the paediatrics community sharing knowledge and innovations around the world.
OPENPediatrics
OPENPediatrics is an open access online community of healthcare professionals working in paediatrics and child health sharing best practices from all resource settings around the world through innovative collaboration and digital learning technologies.
Healthcare professionals can access peer-reviewed content, including accredited and non-accredited courses, expert lectures and demonstrations, interactive device simulators, protocols and medical calculators. Verified users can also form and join groups, share digital resources, and engage in online discussions of key aspects of paediatric care.
Developed by teams in Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School Teaching Hospital, OPENPediatrics also have a variety of open-access resources available including podcasts and peer-reviewed videos with practical approaches to paediatric disease management and procedures.
Don’t Forget the Bubbles
Don’t Forget The Bubbles (DFTB) was founded in 2013 as a way of sharing collective knowledge in paediatrics and child health. DFTB is one of the largest free open access medical education resources available online and the team have strong international collaborative networks. Now there are over 70 authors and more than 600 blog posts, podcasts, videos and resources for healthcare professionals to freely access.
Resources include e-learning modules on common paediatric presentations such as the limping child, common rashes, pyrexia of unknown origin, seizures, wound management and headache. There are also teaching modules on X-ray interpretation and quick reference notes on clinical skills. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the team have published regularly updated evidence summaries of paediatric COVID-19 literature and consensus guidance on key topics such as PIMS-TS and transmission.
In 2020, ‘Skin Deep‘ was launched led by an international medical education team, DFTB and the Royal London Hospital, UK with an aim to develop a free, open-access collection of high-quality photographs of medical conditions in a range of skin tones for use by both healthcare professionals and the public.
Within paediatrics, the diagnosis of skin conditions and genetic syndromes relies on the recognition of characteristic features which can differ depending on skin tones. It is hoped that improving the diversity of skin images will improve education and recognition of conditions in all skin tones, reducing inequalities and ensuring all children receive a timely diagnosis regardless of their skin colour.
The team are now calling on healthcare professionals and hospitals across the UK and the world to collaborate and be part of the project. Watch an introductory video to the project below: