Training for Healthcare Professionals
T he Arkansas Disability & Health Program purchases Continuing Medical Education (CME) hours from the Department of Family and Preventative Medicine. Some training topics have included:
- Secondary Conditions
- Diagnosis and Treatment of Developmental Disabilities
- Diagnosis of Mental Retardation in Children
- Secondary Conditions of Spinal Cord Injuries
If you would like to be notified of upcoming CME offerings, click here.
ADHP also supports the implementation of Project DOCC at UAMS
and Arkansas Children's Hospital.
Project DOCC was developed in 1994 at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, New York, by parents of children with chronic illnesses. In Project DOCC, parents become the teachers who educate pediatric residents about the special health care needs of children who are chronically ill or disabled. The focus is on meeting these children’s special health care needs in the community, addressing the impact that chronicity has on the family as a whole, as well as understanding the illness and/or disability. Project DOCC’s mission is threefold:
- to provide the pediatric resident with an in-depth understanding of life with a child who has a chronic illness or disability, that is, to widen the pediatrician’s perspective from the hospital and office to the home and community.
- to illustrate the need for chronic care planning by showing residents how to form an alliance between physicians and parents to improve the quality of life and educational opportunities for special needs children.
- to empower both pediatricians and parents/caregivers of children with special needs to become skillful family and community advocates.
During their developmental-behavioral pediatrics rotation, pediatric residents make an in-home visit (with two parents—one speaking about their personal experiences and the other addressing global issues) and conduct an in-depth interview of the parent of a child with disability. Parents whose children have a wide range of chronic diagnoses and who come from different socioeconomic circumstances and diverse areas of the state are encouraged to participate. |
