KL2 scholar proposes curbing pediatric tests and procedures in JAMA Pediatrics article
Wright Center KL2 Scholar Elizabeth Wolf, M.D., MPH, published an article in JAMA Pediatrics this month addressing concerns about negative health impacts from common, and often unnecessary, medical tests and procedures for young patients.
Wolf, an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the VCU School of Medicine, studies health care for vulnerable populations, well-child visits and vaccine preventable diseases. The KL2 Program at the Wright Center is supported by the National Institutes of Health Clinical and Translational Science Award and gives early-career faculty dedicated time for research – helping their findings benefit human health more quickly.
“Children may be particularly vulnerable to some of the harms of low-value care, including radiation from unnecessary radiologic studies and alterations in the microbiome – the good bacteria that lives in and on the human body and provides important functions – from overuse of antibiotics,” said Dr. Wolf. “It’s important to stop providing low-value care so fewer patients are harmed and health care costs are reduced.”