With 1 in 200 children experiencing post-infectious neuroinflammatory disorders, increasing awareness of these disorders amongst those who work with children is imperative in order to prevent misdiagnosis and unnecessary suffering. These children are happy and healthy one day and psychiatrically crippled the next. Most of these children are misdiagnosed as psychiatric or behavioral when they require medical intervention and treatment. Learn how a simple childhood infection can trigger an abrupt onset of obsessive compulsive disorder, tics and/or eating restrictions in children.
Presented by
Sarah Lemley
Executive Director
Northwest PANDAS/PANS Network (NWPPN)
Sarah holds a master’s degree in Public Administration; Health Administration and is the co-founder and executive director of the Northwest PANDAS/PANS Network. In her role as ED for NWPPN, she has hosted the first Northwest PANDAS/PANS Provider roundtable, coordinated five Grand Rounds, introduced and passed legislation in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, coordinated 4 Awareness Day Walks and supported over 1,000 families in the Northwest. Prior to her work establishing NWPPN, she worked extensively in the healthcare industry. Her work experience includes healthcare administration, health insurance administration and renewal, social work and advocacy.
Core Competency Area:
Families and Community Partnerships
Skill Level:
Fundamental
Presentation Outcomes:
This session will enable the learner to understand the basic biological processes involved in pediatric neuropsychiatric illnesses such as PANDAS and PANS and identify symptoms which indicate the need for thorough and appropriate medical evaluation and family education. Participants will demonstrate competency of where they can seek out diagnostic and treatment guidelines specific to clinicians. Participants will be able to identify local resources to refer families to in order to find medically competent care.
Learning Objectives:
This session will enable the learner to understand the basic biological processes involved in post-infectious neuroinflammatory disorders such as PANDAS and PANS and identify symptoms. This increased awareness will lead to more timely diagnosis.
Participants will demonstrate competency of where to seek out established diagnostic and treatment guidelines. We will review the publications of these guidelines and where they can be located. Competency exhibited by knowing where to go to find these.
Participants will be able to identify local resources to refer families to for medically competent care. We will review barriers to care and the importance of finding a PANDAS/PANS knowledgeable clinician. Being able to identify where they can go to find these referrals will demonstrate competency.
