This year, the Pediatric Hospital Medicine conference opened with a simple challenge: “Find the magic.” After four days in Anaheim, Calif., watching more than 1,100 pediatric hospitalists share research, debate best practices, and reconnect with colleagues, their conclusion felt both inevitable and deeply resonant—the magic was here with us all along.
What struck me wasn’t just the clinical content, though the science was compelling. It was watching people light up while describing a quality improvement initiative and listening to people share how mentorship helped them navigate difficult times. This year’s conference articulated something many of us already felt: the magic we were asked to find was the meaningful work already happening in our daily practice.
Foundations Already in Place
This was highlighted by three incredible plenary speakers who wove together themes that felt both timely and timeless. They challenged us to recognize that equity isn’t specialized work for the particularly motivated among us—it’s fundamental to providing good care to every hospitalized child. They reminded us that effective communication with families requires meeting people where they are, acknowledging emotions before presenting facts, and recognizing when our scientific explanations fail to address parents’ underlying concerns about their child’s well-being. And they asked us to examine how our assumptions about disability might limit the care we provide, encouraging us to see difference rather than deficit.
These weren’t revolutionary concepts, but they reflected something important about where pediatric hospital medicine stands today. The speakers weren’t introducing foreign ideas; they were helping us recognize the principles already embedded in our best clinical work. When we adjust our approach based on a family’s cultural background, involve interpreters even for families who speak some English, or consider social circumstances in discharge planning, we’re already practicing equity-informed care. When we acknowledge a parent’s fear before explaining why antibiotics won’t help their child’s viral illness, we’re already meeting families where they are.
Everyday Magic
The conference co-chairs’ conclusion that “the magic was already here” reflects something I’ve been thinking about since I became a pediatric hospitalist. The magic isn’t in dramatic saves or breakthrough discoveries—though those matter too. It’s in the daily work of providing excellent care for children and families during some of their most vulnerable moments.
I think about the nurse who notices subtle changes in a patient’s breathing pattern, the respiratory therapist who helps a toddler feel comfortable with high-flow oxygen, and the social worker who connects families with resources that address the root causes of health issues. I think about colleagues who mentor learners through difficult procedures, who design quality improvement projects that reduce health disparities, and who advocate for policies that improve child health beyond hospital walls.
The magic is also in the professional community that supports this work. It’s in the research collaborations that emerge from shared clinical questions, in the informal mentorship that happens at conferences like this one, in the way experienced hospitalists make time to guide those of us still figuring things out. This community is being tested in unprecedented ways, but our collective commitment to caring for hospitalized children never wavers, despite extraordinary challenges.
Moving Forward
The challenge to find magic and the conclusion that it was already present offers a framework for thinking about professional development that feels both realistic and aspirational. Rather than asking us to transform our practice completely, the conference encouraged us to recognize the excellence already happening and build on those foundations.
This doesn’t mean accepting current limitations or ignoring areas where we need to improve. We have been offered concrete guidance on strengthening our approach to equity, communication, and disability-informed care. This message feels encouraging rather than overwhelming; we already have strong foundations to build on.
The magic was indeed here all along. Our responsibility is to ensure it reaches every child who needs it, recognizing that this requires not just clinical expertise, but also commitment to equity, effective communication, and perspectives that challenge our assumptions about what constitutes optimal care. The work continues, but it’s work we’re already doing – and doing well.
Dr. Tran
Dr. Tran is an assistant professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of Illinois College of Medicine and a pediatric hospitalist at Children’s Hospital of Illinois, both in Peoria, Ill., deputy editor of digital media for the Journal of Hospital Medicine, and pediatric editor for The Hospitalist.