Research Team, Featuring PhD Students, Highlighted in Pediatrics Nationwide
August 28, 2023
PhD students Kathryn A. Hyzak, Abigail Underwood along with Dr. Alicia Bunger collaborated with a powerful interdisciplinary team on a project focusing on expanding contraception access for adolescents hospitalized with mental health issues.
Their efforts and findings were recently highlighted by Pediatrics Nationwide.
Dr. Anna J. Kerlek, a physician in the Division of Psychiatry at Nationwide Children’s Hospital who helped establish the team, emphasized the importance of this intervention.
“Traditionally in health care, there is a disconnect between caring for our mental and physical health. We saw this need for contraceptive care as an opportunity to address the entire person. We also wanted to better serve the specific needs of young people hospitalized with psychiatric disorders by providing this essential health care to them.”
After more than a year of patient consultations, the implementation blueprint designed by the team provided positive results and proved to be a successful collaborative effort.
“This collaborative intervention demonstrates that integrating high-quality adolescent contraceptive counseling and care into psychiatric hospitalization is possible and provides value to patients.”
