Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (VKC) member Angela Maxwell-Horn, M.D., and a team of specialists recently developed a new learning module for medical professionals who want to learn more about medication management for children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and mood symptoms.
Maxwell-Horn is a developmental-behavioral pediatrician and serves as assistant professor of Pediatrics at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.
Medication Management for Children with ADHD and Mood Symptoms was developed in collaboration with Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Fellow Kristin Bird, D.O., and Tara J. Minor, Ph.D., MAT, M.A., senior program manager in the Pediatric Residency & Fellowship Programs.
The learning module was designed with pediatric primary care professionals in mind so that they may feel more confident seeing children with ADHD and mood dysregulation in their clinics.
Angela Maxwell-Horn, M.D.
“Primary care pediatric health care professionals are the first people that parents will go to when their child is struggling,” said Maxwell-Horn. “Currently, there are only approximately 800 developmental-behavioral pediatricians in the United States. This means that there are exceptionally long waitlists to be seen in our subspecialty clinics. These educational modules provide free, online, easily accessible trainings on the topic of psychopharmacology for children with ADHD and mood dysregulation. If we can train primary care pediatric health care professionals to be more comfortable prescribing and titrating psychotropic medications, children will get more effective interventions in a timely manner.”
Instead of a full psychopharmacology course, the program is meant as a basic primer for busy professionals, with a series of short videos on determining whether prescribing medication is appropriate for a patient. The module consists of three brief educational videos interspersed with interactive activities. There is also a pre-test and a post-test to assess learning of the participant. The medication management module takes about 40 to 50 minutes to complete.
“There is a plethora of medications on the market that treat ADHD symptoms and mood symptoms in children,” said Maxwell-Horn. “We break down categories of medications, like stimulants and non-stimulants used to treat ADHD, to help providers understand the pros and cons of different categories of medications. The modules also talk about starting dosages and maximum dosages of medications, as well as possible side effects to monitor for.”
Click here to access Medication Management for Children with ADHD and Mood Symptoms.
