Integrated Health Care Collaboration and Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcal Infections: A Working Model for Case Consultation

Historically, integrated health care, often referred to as interdisciplinary health care, has been an approach characterized by a high degree of collaboration and communication among health care professionals. While numerous researchers have explored the benefits of including clinical psychologists as team members, a limited body of research has explored the partnership between school psychologists and physicians, even though school health services can be an effective venue for integrating psychosocial care and education with medical care. As more chronically ill children are reintegrated into school, school psychologists must be prepared to work with these children at school. Childrendiagnosed with complex medical disorders, such as Pediatric AutoimmuneNeuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS), require strong intersystemic relationships from various disciplines to assist in diagnosing, assessing, and treating the disorder; however, barriers to effective interdisciplinary healthcare collaboration can be numerous. The primary purpose of this study was to survey medical students at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) in order to explore PCOM medical students’ awareness of PANDAS, to explore their selfreported level of agreement in the value of providing integrated health care collaboration to school psychologists on associated medical and psychological impairments, and to determine important considerations for the pediatric school psychologist to consider in order to maximize opportunity for successful integrated health care collaboration. Theresults indicated that only a small percentage of PCOM medical students were aware of PANDAS and that the efforts to promote interdisciplinary health care collaboration on the campuses of PCOM have been inconsistent. The data from the survey were then used to construct a working model of specific considerations for both the school psychologist and the physician to consider when working with children with PANDAS/PANS