New website and environmental history tools for pediatric health care providers

The National Environmental Education & Training Foundation (NEETF) has created a new website for pediatric health care providers. The site is an on-line resource portal with user-friendly tools, including a screening and a comprehensive environmental history form, and an environmental history taking primer.

The Pediatric Environmental History Screening Form is a one-page form designed to be administered by the primary health care provider in less than five minutes in order to capture most of the common environmental exposures to children. It can be administered regularly during well-child exams as well as to assess whether an environmental exposure plays a role in a child's symptoms. If a positive response is given to one or more of the screening questions, the primary care provider can use the Additional Categories and Questions to Supplement The Screening Environmental History to explore further. The Pediatric Environmental History Primer provides background information on issues included in the form and recommendations health care providers can make to families to control or eliminate the hazards in their environment.

These tools are based on medical literature and current best practices, and were developed in consultation with an expert advisory group, chaired by James R. Roberts MD, MPH. Other members of the Advisory Committee are Sophie Balk, MD; Ruth Etzel MD, PhD; Joel Forman, MD; Christine Johnson, MD; Lillian Mood, RN, MPH; Bonnie Rogers, DrPH, FAAN.

NEETF's Pediatric Environmental History Initiative is a multi-year project to incorporate environmental history taking into the clinical practice of pediatricians and nurses. The Initiative is funded in part by The New York Community Trust.