RESEARCH
A Q&A With K23 Recipient Dr. Christian Pulcini
Optimization and Implementation Trial of a User-Centered Emergency Care Planning Tool for Infants with Medical Complexity SAEM PULSE | NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022
By Brian Milman, MD, on behalf of the SAEM Research Committee
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Christian D. Pulcini
Christian D. Pulcini, MD, MEd, MPH, is a pediatric emergency physician at the University of Vermont Medical Center and UVM Children’s Hospital, as well as an assistant professor of emergency medicine and pediatrics at the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine. His current areas of research focus are emergency care of children with medical complexity, childhood firearm injuries, and pediatric acute mental health.
Congratulations on your K23, “Optimization and Implementation Trial of a UserCentered Emergency Care Planning Tool for Infants with Medical Complexity.” Can you give a summary of your project? Thank you, and of course. Who doesn’t like to talk about their research? The research portion of the K23 involves optimizing the Emergency Information Form (EIF) jointly recommended for
children with special health care needs by the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in 1999 and then reaffirmed in 2010. Despite this joint recommendation, there is little evidence supporting the efficacy of these forms. The targeted population for my project will be infants with medical complexity, notably infants
graduating from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). This population has been shown to have higher rates of emergency department (ED) visits and admissions to acute care hospitals in the first year of life, therefore we felt our outcomes would be more adequately measured among this population. The first two years of the project will involve assessment of the key stakeholders in the emergency care of infants with medical complexity, with medical complexity defined as “children with multiple significant chronic health problems including multiple organ systems, which result in functional limitations, high health care needs or utilization, and often require need for, or use of, medical technology.” We will focus specifically on optimizing the EIF
