Illinois Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics

Your daily work with children and families gives you invaluable insights into what pediatric mental healthcare needs are in Illinois. Our 2025 Pediatric Mental Healthcare Needs Assessment is your opportunity to shape the resources, education programs, and advocacy that will support your practice and your patients. In 2023, clinicians like you identified critical needs that led to new educational materials, enhanced support systems, and stronger advocacy efforts. This year, we’re asking again: What resources would enhance your excellent care? What systemic changes would help you help more children? Take 15 minutes to share your expertise.

When pediatric healthcare clinicians speak, we listen and act. The 2023 needs assessment led to new clinical resources, quality improvement projects, and partnerships. Our 2025 needs assessment will help us understand how we can meet evolving needs. Whether you’re in primary care, specialty practice, school health, or a rural setting, your professional perspective is essential. This 15-minute survey will help ICAAP develop clinical support materials, continuing education, and focus on policy initiatives that strengthen your capacity to deliver excellent care.

RSV season is here, and two monoclonal antibody products are available for newborns. Both provide immediate, passive immunity. For birthing hospitals, this is a streamlined, evidence-based intervention that can be administered before discharge, reducing preventable RSV hospitalizations and easing the burden on pediatric units during peak season.

The strongest defense starts before the opponent takes the field. For newborns, that means protecting them from RSV before they leave your hospital. RSV immunizations allow your team to be the first line of defense, delivering immediate protection during the most vulnerable weeks of life. Between October and March, every birthing hospital has the opportunity to prevent severe RSV illness. Integrate immunization into discharge protocols, empower your clinical teams, and ensure no infant leaves unprotected. Your hospital. Their defense.

Integrating RSV immunization into your birthing hospital’s newborn care protocols is simpler than you think. RSV immunization can be administered before discharge, alongside other standard newborn screenings and interventions. By making it routine, you eliminate missed opportunities, improve parental confidence, and ensure every infant receives evidence-based protection during the highest-risk period. The Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics supports your efforts with implementation resources. Now is the time to make RSV prevention a standard of care on your unit.

Every year, RSV sends up to 80,000 U.S. children under 5 to the hospital, with infants under 6 months at greatest risk. Birthing hospitals have a unique opportunity to intervene early. By offering RSV immunization at birth, you provide immediate protection when it’s needed most, reduce preventable admissions, and ease downstream pressure on your health system. This isn’t just best practice, it’s an investment in healthier outcomes and more resilient care systems.