Central nervous system (CNS) cancers recently overtook leukemia as the most common cause of childhood cancer death. In the United States, Black and Hispanic patients have a higher risk of death than non-Hispanic White patients; in addition, those living in counties in the highest quartile for poverty rate also have a higher risk of death than all others. To improve the timely diagnosis of pediatric brain tumors and access to subspeciality care, we have created a Virtual Learning Series based on the HeadSmart campaign. By increased awareness/comfort with pediatric CNS tumor symptoms among primary care physicians, we have the ability to decrease time to diagnosis significantly from 14.4 weeks to 6.5.
Providers and providers in training which include physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and clinical nurse specialists are all welcome to participate.