Publications by authors named "Alan M Leichtner"

Microaggressions undermine health professionals' performance in patient care, research, and education. This study aimed to develop and evaluate an intervention addressing microaggressions in healthcare settings by empowering bystanders to act as upstanders across an academic medical center (AMC). This was achieved through an educational intervention that included a novel framework, didactics, video demonstrations, and practice with realistic scenarios.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Minimal research has explored the pandemic's impact on health professions educators (HPEs). Given that health professions educator academies provide centralised support and professional development to HPEs through communities of practice and promoting education at their institutions, it is important to examine how academies met HPEs' needs during the pandemic. This study investigates the COVID-19 pandemic's effects on HPEs and examines how academies supported HPEs' educational roles during the pandemic.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A standard curriculum for pediatric colonoscopy training has neither been required nor universally implemented in North American fellowship programs. This qualitative study assessed the needs of colonoscopy training in pediatric gastroenterology to determine the standardized components of procedural teaching. Focus groups with pediatric gastroenterology attendings, fellows, procedural nurses, and interviews with advanced endoscopists, all practicing at a single institution, were conducted between March and June 2018.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: While most hospital-based, healthcare professionals are expected to teach and supervise, few receive training in education. We designed, implemented, and evaluated an interprofessional, hospital-based teaching certificate program based on experiential learning and reflective practice for healthcare professionals with little or no formal training in education.

Methods: Participants attended educational seminars; incorporated new concepts, skills, and behaviors in their teaching; and submitted written reflections.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Over the last two decades, medical schools and academic health centers have acknowledged the persistence of health disparities in their patients and the lack of diversity in their faculty, leaders and extended workforce. We established an Office of Health Equity and Inclusion (OHEI) at our pediatric academic medical center after a thorough evaluation of prior diversity initiatives and review of faculty development data.

Objective: To describe the lessons learned at a pediatric academic medical center in prioritizing and implementing health equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives in creating the OHEI.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Non-responsive celiac disease (NRCD) is defined as the persistence of symptoms in individuals with celiac disease (CeD) despite being on a gluten-free diet (GFD). There is scant literature about NRCD in the pediatric population.

Aim: To determine the incidence, clinical characteristics and underlying causes of NRCD in children.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is an important disease-specific concern for adolescent and young adult (AYA) women that is not consistently addressed in cystic fibrosis (CF) centers. This study identifies educational needs and preferences of interprofessional CF providers regarding SRH in AYA women with CF.

Methods: Interprofessional CF providers participated in an anonymous survey regarding general and CF-specific SRH knowledge and skills, factors for optimizing SRH care, and preferred approaches for SRH training.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Celiac disease (CD) is often diagnosed in childhood, and the treatment is a lifelong gluten-free diet (GFD). It may take several years to gain competence in the skills required to follow a GFD successfully. Inadequately treated CD is associated with bone fractures, nutritional deficiencies, and lymphoma.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We have recognized red spot lesions (RSLs) in the duodenal bulb in children with celiac disease (CD) and believe they may represent an underappreciated and distinct endoscopic sign of CD. A total of 171 pediatric patients undergoing esophagogastroduodenoscopy with duodenal biopsy for symptoms consistent with CD were prospectively recruited. There were 75 patients who met criteria for CD and the remaining 96 patients served as symptomatic controls.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: Our objective was to determine the rate of mucosal recovery in pediatric patients with celiac disease on a gluten-free diet. We also sought to determine whether immunoglobulin A tissue transglutaminase (tTG) correlates with mucosal damage at the time of a repeat endoscopy with duodenal biopsy in these patients.

Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of 103 pediatric patients, younger than 21 years, with a diagnosis of celiac disease defined as Marsh 3 histology, and who underwent a repeat endoscopy with duodenal biopsy at least 12 months after initiating a gluten-free diet.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Problem: Medical education academies play an important role in the recognition and career advancement of educators. However, hospital-based clinical faculty have unique professional development needs that may not be met by medical-school-based academies.

Approach: The Boston Children's Hospital Academy was founded in 2008 to serve the needs of its clinician-educators.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Pediatric constipation is commonly managed in the primary care setting, where there is much variability in management and specialty referral use. Shared Care is a collaborative quality improvement initiative between Boston Children's Hospital and the Pediatric Physician's Organization at Children's (PPOC), through which subspecialists provide primary care providers with education, decision-support tools, pre-referral management recommendations, and access to advice. We investigated whether Shared Care reduces referrals and improves adherence to established clinical guidelines.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: IBD is a group of complex, systemic disorders associated with intestinal inflammation and extraintestinal manifestations. Recent studies revealed Mendelian forms of IBD, which contributed significantly to our understanding of disease pathogenesis and the heritability of IBD.

Design: We performed exome sequencing in a family with Crohn's disease (CD) and severe autoimmunity, analysed immune cell phenotype and function in affected and non-affected individuals, and performed in silico and in vitro analyses of cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) structure and function.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The deterioration of humanism and professionalism during graduate medical training is an acknowledged concern, and programs are required to provide professionalism education for pediatric fellows. We conducted a needs assessment survey in a national sample of 138 first- and second-year gastroenterology fellows (82% response rate). Most believed that present humanism and professionalism education met their needs, but this education was largely informal (eg, role modeling).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To investigate whether season of birth is associated with celiac disease (CD).

Study Design: We performed a medical record review of 1964 patients with biopsy-proven CD at 3 teaching hospitals (2 pediatric centers and 1 adult center) between 2000 and 2010. The first positive small intestinal biopsy result defined age of diagnosis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: Adult studies of celiac disease (CD) have shown that duodenal mucosal histopathological changes may be patchy, and the diagnostic utility of duodenal bulb biopsies is believed to be limited. Few related pediatric data exist.

Methods: We assessed the prevalence of variable biopsy findings and duodenal bulb involvement in children with CD, as well as its association with clinical parameters.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The significance of colonic intraepithelial lymphocytosis has been well described in adults, and is associated with lymphocytic colitis, untreated celiac disease, and medications, among others. Little is known about the meaning of colonic intraepithelial lymphocytosis in the pediatric population; this study examines this finding in a cohort of children. Twenty patients in whom colonic intraepithelial lymphocytosis was a prominent feature were identified from 1999 to 2005.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF