Healthy Homes Grand Rounds 2/11/25

Overview

The Pediatric Environmental Health Center at Boston Children’s Hospital and the New England Region Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) welcome health professionals to attend the monthly virtual Pediatric Environmental Health (PEH) Grand Rounds.

This Grand Rounds series will provide healthcare providers with state-of-the-science content on current topics in pediatric environmental health. Such information will fill in the knowledge gaps of practitioners, enabling them to effectively counsel families whose children face possible health issues due to environmental chemicals, toxins, and other insults. The PEH Grand Rounds will also educate on practice strategies for the biomonitoring of children at risk for specific exposures to environmental pollutants.

Course Format 

This course will be Presented online via Zoom, optimizing virtual interactions between faculty and participants and facilitating interactive discussions.

Course Topic: 
Plastics and Children’s Health

Speakers:
Ella Whitman

Ella Whitman is an early-career researcher at the Global Observatory on Planetary Health at Boston College. She is currently in between her undergraduate and medical training and aspires to lead a career at the intersection of pediatrics, environmental epidemiology, and child health advocacy. Her main research interests include investigating the impact of adverse environmental exposures in the pre- and early postnatal periods of life to promote longitudinal health and reduce intergenerational inequalities.

This Grand Rounds will explore children’s heightened vulnerability to plastics throughout their lifecycle; examine the clinical and mechanistic impacts of microplastics and plastic-associated chemicals on children’s health; and propose actionable steps for pediatricians to reduce exposure, including anticipatory guidance at the individual level, changes in institutional practices at the health-sector level, and advocacy at the societal level.

A short Q&A will follow the presentation.

Learning Objectives: 

At the conclusion of this educational program, learners will be able to:

1. Describe how plastics threaten human health, beyond direct exposure
2. Summarize specific health effects of plastics on children
3. Explain key reasons why children are more vulnerable to the health effects of plastics
4. Identify at least one actionable step they can take at the individual, institutional, and societal levels to reduce children’s exposure to harmful plastics

In support of improving patient care, Boston Children’s Hospital is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Physician
Boston Children’s Hospital designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits ™. Physicians should claim only credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in this activity.

Physician Assistant

Boston Children’s Hospital designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits ™. Physicians should claim only credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in this activity.

Nurse

Boston Children’s Hospital designates this activity for 1.00 contact hours for nurses. Nurses should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. 

Disclosures

Boston Children’s Hospital adheres to all ACCME Essential Areas, Standards, and Policies. It is Boston Children’s policy that those who have influenced the content of a CME activity (e.g. planners, faculty, authors, reviewers and others) disclose all relevant financial relationships with commercial entities so that Boston Children’s may identify and resolve any conflicts of interest prior to the activity. These disclosures will be provided in the activity materials along with disclosure of any commercial support received for the activity. Additionally, faculty members have been instructed to disclose any limitations of data and unlabeled or investigational uses of products during their presentations.

The following planners, speakers, and content reviewers, on behalf of themselves, have reported the following relevant financial relationships with any entity producing, marketing, reselling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on patients: 

Please see the FAQs below for common questions about how to work through a course. If you have a question or issue that is not addressed in the FAQ, please use this form to submit a help request, or if your issue is urgent, call the CME office at: 617-919-9908.

How do navigate this course?

How do I navigate this course?

There are two ways to access and navigate course content with the interactive table of contents: at the bottom of the main course page or in the sidebar on the right side of the page. Select the links in the table of contents to access the corresponding content. Depending on the course, access to content may be linear, in which case each content module or section can only be accessed if the prior ones are completed, or non-linear, in which case modules and sections can be accessed in any order. Use the breadcrumbs at the top of any course page to orient yourself within a course, or return to a previous course section or the main course page.

How do I claim credit for this course?

How do I claim credit?

If the course has been accredited, available credits will be displayed on the course home page. Select only those credits that apply to your profession, and click/tap “Apply Selection.” You may make your selection at any point while you are taking the course, or after you have completed it.

How do I download a certificate?

How do I download a certificate?

There are two ways to view/download your certificate: from within the course or from the course listing under your profile (select the document icon). In either case, you must have selected at least one available course credit type to generate a certificate.

How do I view/print my transcript?

How do I view/print my transcript?

You must be logged in to view your transcript. Select My Profile at the top of the page. If you do not see the transcript selector, be sure the Courses tab is selected. Select the type of credit and dates to include in your credit report. To include all credits from all time, leave the options blank. Select Download Transcript to view/download your transcript. Note each credit type in your transcripts starts a new page.

How do I request a refund?

How do I request a refund?

Please email the CME Department to request a refund.