Social Pediatrics: A Responsive Interdisciplinary Coordinated Health [RICH] Model for Timely Accessible Services for At-Risk Families

Social pediatrics is a model of practice that places specific emphasis on the importance of the relationship between the practitioner and the child as well as focuses on family and community engagement as vital to the ways in which care is provided. Moreover, it is located in the child’s community and seeks to ensure care is accessible and responsive to the child and family’s health needs. To date, little is known about the processes needed to implement a social pediatrics model of practice within the current structure of the health system.

Social pediatrics is a model of practice that places specific emphasis on the importance of the relationship between the practitioner and the child as well as focuses on family and community engagement as vital to the ways in which care is provided. Moreover, it is located in the child’s community and seeks to ensure care is accessible and responsive to the child and family’s health needs. To date, little is known about the processes needed to implement a social pediatrics model of practice within the current structure of the health system.

The project itself incorporates two forms of innovation: 1) a nurse practitioner will be the point of care practitioner and 2) the social pediatrics model will be enacted through a partnership with community and formal health care organizations rather than a privately funded practice.

The specific aims of this case study are: a) articulate the processes of care delivery in a model of community-based practice that seeks to recognize children and families’ social context as a central consideration in the ways care is provided; b) identify ways to foster engagement between the community and health service organizations in the processes of developing and enacting a social pediatrics approach; and c) identify the organizational supports needed to enact this model of practice.