What The DoD Is Learning From Pediatrics

The Department of Defense is turning to a pediatric health system to help find better ways of reintegrating military docs into civilian healthcare and making sure they’re still as clinically savvy as when they left.

Researchers will use observational tracking and randomized trials of interventions in Jacksonville, Fla.-based Nemours doctors’ treatment choices over three years, along with data from Nemours’ EMR system, to assess how frequently doctors treat certain conditions, how that shapes their treatment decisions, and how those compare to best practice guidelines.

By teasing out any relationships between the frequency of a docs treatment for a certain condition, the standards adherence and outcomes, the Nemours researchers are trying to help the DoD improve reintegration programs and reduce the “use-it-or-lose-it” effect in clinical skills some deployed physicians may experience.