iiCOR SDBP is the International Interprofessional Collaborative Office Rounds
The Problem
Approximately 15% of the world’s community, equaling over a billion people, live with a disability. In addition, a high proportion of individuals experience mental health disorders that can lead to stigmatization, discrimination, human rights violations, inadequate health care, and early mortality. These challenges often begin in childhood. Early identification and prompt and appropriate services can reduce the short- and long-term burden of these conditions on children and their families. However, the professional workforce to address these issues in developed countries and in low- and middle-income countries is very limited.
The Solution
The overarching goal of SDBP IICOR is to improve the knowledge and skills of clinicians throughout the world to address developmental and behavioral health concerns in children. The goal is achieved through regular discussions of challenging cases with interprofessional teams, including developmental-behavioral pediatricians and child psychiatrists, psychologists, primary care clinicians, and other health professionals. In 2012, a group of clinicians developed International Collaborative Office Rounds (I-COR), funded by the US Maternal Child Health Bureau (MCHB) to practice COR across international boundaries. Based on the success of the model, in 2018, this group partnered with SDBP, funded by MCHB to bring I-COR to scale. In the current model, interprofessional groups from different countries meet monthly as “nodes” to discuss actual cases from their practices via the teleconferencing. Each participating site has a team, comprised of developmental-behavioral pediatricians, psychiatrists, general pediatricians, psychologists, and/or other professionals who care for children with developmental and behavioral problems. Discussions function as non-hierarchical peer supervision. As of April 2020, ICOR2 has 5 nodes (a node is 4 sites) with a total of 20 sites from the US and 9 other countries. In total, we have over 160 people registered as ICOR participants. Based on the success of this model and the need for more interprofessional and international collaboration around the care of children with DB issues, we have planned an expansion ICOR to SDBP iiCOR.
Our Mission
To bring together an interprofessional, global community of clinicians who work with children and increase our capacity to treat children and their families across the globe with developmental and behavioral issues.
Our Vision
Irrespective of national boundaries, every child’s developmental, behavioral and emotional well-being is valued and challenges to developmental and behavioral health can be addressed through effective professional partnerships.
Our Values
Our work will be guided and informed by our beliefs and commitments to:
- Providing family centered care paired with shared decision making
- Inclusion that values people with difference and disability as full members of the community
- Non-hierarchical learning where all professionals have expertise to contribute and excitement to learn
- Respect for cultural differences
- Collaboration that is not limited by sociopolitical, economic, or professional boundaries
Our Current and Future Activities
Include the following:
- Discussion board: An online forum where cases are discussed, questions raised, strategies evaluated, and resources are shared amongst a global, interprofessional learning community.
- Collaborative Office Rounds: Monthly meetings amongst “nodes” that consist of up to 4 sites from around the world to discuss cases with a focus on global issues facing children, practice variation within and across sites, and clinical challenges.
- Seminars/ webinars: A series of seminars and webinars to educate and unite the community on topics of interest.
- Research: A repository of cases and key learnings that form the nidus of research studies to learn about the developmental and behavioral conditions in different national contexts, variation in evaluation and management, and the impact of global DBP issues.
- Advocacy: International leadership in efforts to advocate for the developmental and behavioral health care of the children of world, who often have no voice.