The Pediatric Clinical Core Curriculum wraps at ATS 2024 in San Diego on Wednesday, with the final two presentations taking place from 9:30 – 10:30 a.m. in Ballroom 20A (Upper Level) of the San Diego Convention Center.

The theme for this year’s program is exploring the pulmonologist’s role in the PICU. The final day’s presentations discuss important considerations regarding the care of patients with tracheostomies.

The first is “To Trach or Not To Trach: Navigating Discussions in the ICU” from Holly Hoa Vo, MD, MPH, MSc, MA, assistant professor at the University of Washington. Dr. Vo will discuss how to decide “to trach or not to trach” and the complexities providers must consider while weighing this decision. She will also cover how to navigate conversations with multidisciplinary care teams and pediatric patients’ caregivers when the decision is made to move forward with a tracheostomy.

“In addition to her expertise as a lung doctor, Dr. Vo has done a lot of work in this area, considering the ethics and humanistic aspects associated with tracheostomy placement,” said Caroline Okorie, MD, MPH, clinical associate professor at Stanford University and chair of the pediatric core curriculum.

Following Dr. Vo’s lecture, Jacob Anthony Kaslow, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at Vanderbilt University, will present “Transitioning Patients with Tracheostomy Out Of the ICU, A Roadmap.”

Dr. Kaslow will walk attendees through the most effective paths of care, and important considerations throughout the recovery process, for patients and their families to safely transition from the ICU back to their lives at home. Like Dr. Vo’s presentation, Dr. Kaslow will cover how to navigate conversations with patients’ families to ultimately collaborate on a care plan that will fit the patient’s lifestyle and home setting once they are discharged. 

“We wanted to focus on this topic because across the United States, and many other countries, we deal with patients that already require a high level of care with a tracheostomy, ventilator, and perhaps, a gastrostomy for many of these patients. Once they’re discharged, we essentially ask the families that are trying to quickly learn the logistics of caring for a patient with a tracheostomy to replicate what we’ve been doing in the ICU at home,” explained Carmen Leon Astudillo, MD, clinical assistant professor at the University of Florida and vice chair of the pediatric core curriculum. “In addition to the transition for the patient, we wanted to focus on the importance of the patient-caregiver experience and how it can affect a successful transition to the home setting.”

The core curriculum series aims to support clinicians engaged in the maintenance of certification activities by providing updates on subjects included in recertification requirements. The ATS Clinical Core Curriculum Symposia focus on key topics in the areas of Adult and Pediatric Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine. The topics are aligned with corresponding MOC Medical Knowledge modules. This symposia are intended to help clinicians stay up to date with important information relevant to their medical practices and to provide an opportunity for clinicians to evaluate their knowledge and skills while earning MOC Medical Knowledge points.