Insights

Look for NICHQ at Upcoming Spring Maternal Child Health Conferences 

March 18, 2022

Teams at the National Institute for Children’s Health Quality are preparing for an exciting spring 2022 conference season, where staff will provide keynote addresses, give poster presentations, and facilitate workshops at a variety of national maternal and child health conferences.  

NICHQ President and CEO Scott Berns, MD, MPH, FAAP, will begin the conference season as the keynote speaker for the upcoming International Pediatric Feeding Disorder Conference on April 21-22, 2022. The conference, hosted by Feeding Matters, offers educational sessions, updates on research, and collaboration opportunities between healthcare providers and families of children with pediatric feeding disorders. Berns’ presentation is titled Driving Change to Improve Children’s Health. 

Topic: Family Partnership 

Several project teams will represent NICHQ at the 2022 Association of Maternal Child Health Programs (AMCHP) Annual Conference, which will be held virtually on May 24-26. This year’s conference theme is “Reflecting on our Past, Shaping our Future.” 

NICHQ and partners from the Florida Department of Health will also be presenting a workshop at the 2022 AMCHP Conference – Shaping the Future of Florida’s Family-Professional Partnerships Through a Statewide, Interdisciplinary Quality Improvement Initiative.  

Eliza Williamson, Senior Project Manager at NICHQ, will join Linda Starnes, Statewide Family Leader for the Florida Department of Health (FLDOH) Office of Children’s Medical Services Managed Care Plan, and FLDOH Medical Services Bureau Chief Joni Hollis, to host a 70-minute interactive workshop sharing key learnings and resources on how attendees can replicate their own family partner-inclusive project. The Florida Department of Health Office of Children’s Medical Services Managed Care Plan and Specialty Programs partners with NICHQ to develop and facilitate the Florida Children’s Medical Services Learning and Action Network (FL CMS LAN), which comprises seven specific Statewide Networks for Access and Quality (SNAQ) teams to improve the quality and access to care for children and youth with special healthcare needs. These seven networks represent fifteen hospital and university hospital systems. 

“It’s been a wonderful experience to prepare this workshop with our partners at Florida Children’s Medical Services,” Williamson said. “I look forward to sharing the work we’ve been doing so far on this project to engage family partners in QI projects, including resources we have developed, our lessons learned, and where we plan to go next.” 

During the workshop, the Florida Department of Health and NICHQ team will share the “why, how, and what’s next?” behind the FL CMS LAN initiative, as well as accomplishments related to family-professional partnership initiatives. 

“This will be a great opportunity to connect with others around the country who are doing similar work in the discipline of Family Leadership or are interested in partnering with the parents and caregivers of children and youth with special healthcare needs,” Williamson said. 

Learn more about the FL CMS LAN initiative’s work to engage family-professional partners and the new Roadmap to Inviting, Engaging, and Including Patient/Family Partners in Quality Improvement and Other Related Initiatives. 

Topic: Technical Assistance Strategies 

Members of NICHQ’s Supporting Healthy Start Performance Project (SHSPP) will provide a variety of presentations at this year’s conference, highlighting strategies NICHQ has implemented as the Healthy Start National Training and Technical Assistance Center to support Healthy Start grantees and measure engagement of TA activities. NICHQ Executive Project Director Kenn L. Harris and Senior Project Manager Nikki Maffei, MSc, will provide a poster presentation, Beyond COVID-19: Supporting 101 Healthy Start Grantees in a Pandemic. Members of NICHQ’s Data, Applied Research, and Evaluation (DARE) team will also give a poster presentation, Measuring Engagement in TA and Support Activities Among 101 Healthy Start Grantees. Presenters include Associate Director of Research and Evaluation Emily O'Donnell, Scd, MS, Senior Director of Applied Research and Evaluation Rebecca Russell, MSPH, and Analyst Rebecca Huber, MPP.  

NICHQ presenters O'Donnell, Harris, and Maffei, will be joined by Bronx Healthy Start Partnership Program Manager Alma Idehen, MSEd, for a live presentation titled Supporting Healthy Start Performance Project: Delivering Breastfeeding Support to 101 Communities Nation-wide. A recorded presentation titled Supporting Healthy Start Performance Project: Paternal Involvement throughout the Maternity Care Continuum by NICHQ presenters  Harris and Huber, who will be joined by Early Childhood Consultant Aaron Fields, MS, and Alameda County Program Specialist Christopher Gibson, BA Sc. 

Topic: Data and Evaluation

Additionally, Huber will provide a live presentation, Community-based Safe Sleep and Breastfeeding Promotion: Lessons Learned from the National Action Partnership to Promote Safe Sleep Innovation and Improvement Network (NAPPSS-IIN). She will highlight key data and evaluation lessons learned from NICHQ’s DARE team while conducting a series of community listening sessions for NAPPSS-IIN. 

Read more from Huber for Strategies to Leverage Community-Based Research in Maternal and Child Health. 

Topic: Safe Sleep

NICHQ Executive Project Director and Equity Lead Stacy Scott, PhD, MPA, and Michelle Edison (NAPPSS-IIN faculty/contractor) will represent NICHQ's National Action Partnership to Promote Safe Sleep Improvement and Innovation Network (NAPPSS-IIN) project team at the National Cribs for Kids Conference, which will be held virtually from May 3 -6, 2022. They will be doing a presentation about the past year of the NAPPSS-IIN project titled Changing the Narrative: Moving to a Community-led Safe Infant Sleep and Breastfeeding Network. The presentation is scheduled for Thursday, May 5, 2022 from 1:00 – 1:30 PM EST.

Scott will also participate in the Cribs for Kids Addressing Safe Sleep Resistance Panel Discussion alongside fellow national safe sleep leaders. The panel is scheduled for Wednesday, May 4, 2022 from 1:00 – 1:30 PM EST.

Our passionate team of change management professionals is excited to connect with healthcare providers, advocates, and other maternal and child health professionals at this spring’s conferences. Sign up for NICHQ News to stay updated on conference attendance and receive post-conference resources – and say hello if you see us!