Development of a pediatric urgent care research infrastructure to facilitate human immunology studies

Area of Science:

• Immunology
• Pediatric Research
• Public Health

Background:

• Pediatric urgent care settings are underutilized for human subjects research due to time constraints.
• The
• conflict of urgency
• between acute care and research needs hinders participant recruitment.
• Human immunology studies require significant participant time and resources.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate infant and maternal immune responses to respiratory tract infection.
• To implement and evaluate a novel study design for participant recruitment in pediatric urgent care.
• To establish a scalable model for integrating basic science research into pediatric urgent care networks.

Main Methods:

• A two-phase study design was implemented across four Seattle Children's Hospital Urgent Care (SCHUC) clinics.
• The design uncoupled initial clinical contact from enrollment and specimen collection, enabling remote participation.
• Infant and maternal immune responses to respiratory tract infection were studied.

Main Results:

• Successfully enrolled 36 infants and 39 mothers, with complete biospecimen sets from 30 infants and 28 mothers.
• The recruited cohort is geographically diverse and reflects the racial and ethnic diversity of the SCHUC patient population.
• The novel approach minimized disruption to clinical workflows.

Conclusions:

• A novel, two-phase study design effectively overcomes the
• conflict of urgency
• in pediatric urgent care settings.
• This scalable and resource-efficient approach facilitates the study of human immunology in diverse pediatric populations.
• The model provides a framework for integrating research into hospital-affiliated urgent care networks.