IMPACT Project Track

Improving Medicine: Pediatricians and Communities Together (IMPACT)

The IMPACT program is designed for those who are more interested in an in-depth and focused experience, which involves either a community-based intervention or policy work.  Residents on the IMPACT track have dedicated time during all three years of residency to work on development and implementation of a single project. Residents can choose from three areas of emphasis:

• Community Health Track

• Global Health Track

• Quality Improvement Track

During this time they work closely with IMPACT mentors to perform a needs assessment, design and implement their study or intervention, arrange meetings with key community partners and complete grant applications. At the end of the project period, residents will evaluate their project in a research framework and present their findings at an academic meeting and Grand Rounds.

IMPACT interns are required to attend a monthly noon conference series separate from the general residency program, focused on child health advocacy, community health, research skills and leadership. Examples of noon conference topics include:

• Health disparities and inequality
• Writing effective abstracts
• Obtaining health data: using AskCHIS
• Community asset mapping using Healthy City
• Effective proposal writing
• Planning program evaluation
• Databases and data planning
• Survey design and analysis

IMPACT residents and mentors also attend evening events 3 times a year which include a guest speaker and dinner, with topics such as:

• Child health coverage and access
• Global health topics
• Environmental health
• Other current events

Many IMPACT residents have ideas for projects prior to joining, but many develop their ideas and interests during the core rotations. Some residents choose to start new projects while others choose to continue and/or expand projects from graduating residents. Examples of past and current projects include:

• Preventing obesity in an East Los Angeles early childhood center
• Assessing the impact of south L.A. hospital closures on access to pediatric services
• Access to mental health services for foster youth
• Improving special education resources for children with special needs
• Anti-tobacco education program for minority 5th graders

Community Health

Director: Susan Wu, MD

Care of children is becoming more complex. There is increasing recognition of social determinants of health and the need to address child health from a broader multi-disciplinary perspective. Traditional residency training focuses on improving child health through direct medical care. However, child health can be improved through various approaches including community education, physician-community partnerships, urban planning, research and policy change. The IMPACT Community Health Track assists residents in planning and implementing innovative interventions which tackle child health problems from a non-traditional, community-oriented perspective.

The Goals of the IMPACT Community Health Track are to:

• Provide trainees with the skills to plan and implement effective community-based child health interventions
• Appreciate and be able to navigate the social, cultural, environmental, economic, political and human factors which affect the success of community-based interventions
• Learn skills to lead a multidisciplinary team of academic and community providers
• Understand the principles of community-based participatory research

IMPACT Community Health Track Curriculum

In addition to the core IMPACT curriculum, the Community Health Track includes:

• Core public health curriculum
• Community-based participatory research skills didactics
• Team training and leadership training
• Optional advanced media training
• Optional advanced legislative advocacy training

Global Health

Directors: Alex Van Speybroeck, MD and Pia Pannaraj, MD

The American Academy of Pediatrics recognizes global health as an important component of general pediatrics residency training. Geopolitical boundaries do not circumscribe health issues and nowhere is this more obvious than in Los Angeles. We serve immigrant and migrant families who cannot be separated from the diseases and social determinants of health that they bring from their native countries. In many ways, each day in the Children's Hospital Los Angeles wards or clinics, is a class in global health. However, global health is a discipline unto itself. 

The Goals of the IMPACT Global Health Track are to:

• Increase knowledge of the epidemiology, disease processes and management of key diagnoses with significant health impact in developing world countries
• Challenge residents to critically investigate the economic, social and political challenges affecting healthcare delivery across varied resource-limited settings
• Provide short-term and longitudinal experiences for residents to envision and incorporate global health into their future career plans

IMPACT Global Health Track Curriculum

In addition to the core IMPACT curriculum, the Global Health Track includes:

• Formal didactics in core global health topics. Examples include:
  • Tropical Medicine
  • Practicing General Pediatrics in the Developing World
  • Maternal Neonatal and Child Health
  • Nutrition and Disease
  • Social Determinants of Global Health
  • Major Players and Governance in Global Health
  • Practical Barriers to Implementing Global Health Projects
• Longitudinal project focused on global health. Global Health Track projects can be research, educational, or intervention-focused in scope. Residents are encouraged to partner with USC faculty and non-governmental organizations who are already doing work in the country
• Minimum of one clinical or research rotation internationally during the PL-2 or PL-3 year. Residents will work with faculty mentors to plan the rotation, develop goals and expectations and complete appropriate pre-work. They are required to complete weekly blog entries and/or a post-rotation reflection paper
• Journal club discussion group, lead by Global Health Track senior residents.

Quality Improvement

Director: Joyce Yang Koh, MD

Physicians have a professional responsibility to improve systems of care, not just to treat the individual patient. This concept has been affirmed by the American Board of Medical Specialties and the Institute of Medicine and is a required component for maintaining board licensure. One approach to improving health systems is using quality improvement science and tools, to reduce medical errors, improve efficiency and optimize the quality of care delivery.

The Goals of the Quality Improvement Track are to:

• Understand the quality improvement theory and principles
• Become familiar with the use of various quality planning tools
• Be able to apply basic biostatistical methods for analysis of quality data
• Implement a longitudinal quality improvement project

IMPACT Quality Improvement Curriculum

In addition to the core IMPACT curriculum, the Quality Improvement Track includes:

• Core biostatistics training
• Core evidence-based medicine didactics
• Core quality and safety skills didactics and skills sessions
• Participation in hospital Quality Improvement committees and projects
• Required development or revision of a multidisciplinary clinical practice guideline

CONTACT US

IMPACT Project Track
Children's Hospital Los Angeles
4650 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA  90027
Email: Susan Wu, MD

323-361-6177

IMPACT Residents

IMPACT TRACK DIRECTOR

Susan Wu, MD

IMPACT FACULTY MENTORS

• Marion Taylor Baer, PhD
• Eyal Ben-Isaac, MD
• Joyce Javier, MD, MPH
• Pia Pannaraj, MD
• Mona Patel, MD
• Sheela Rao, MD
• Sheree Schrager, PhD, MS
• Diane Tanaka, MD
• Michelle Thompson, MD
• Douglas Vanderbilt, MD
• Alex Van Speybroeck, MD
• Susan Wu, MD
• Larry Yin, MD, MSPH