Lessons learned from community site administrators involved in pediatric community rotations

Prominent pediatric organizations agree that young physicians need to be trained for the role of patient advocate in the community. However, information on the community site administrators' perspective on such training is limited. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore community site administrators' perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages to pediatric resident training at their centers. Understanding these perspectives may lead to better partnerships and experiences for both the residents and the community sites.

Twenty-eight community site administrators participating in 2 residency community rotations located in Ohio and Florida were surveyed with a semistructured questionnaire. A qualitative data analysis methodology was used to explore the entire set of responses. Research team members reviewed the responses, coded them for emerging themes, and generated three themes: 1) awareness, 2) knowledge exchange, and 3) organizational issues.

Fifty-seven percent of site administrators responded. These administrators consistently indicated that they valued the opportunity to increase residents' awareness of the services their sites provided to the community. The administrators and families served by the agencies appeared to benefit from the medical knowledge exchange, and this was a significant advantage from the community site administrators' perspective. Finally, community sites identified organizational issues of complex scheduling as an area for improvement.

These findings demonstrate the value community sites place on active, early involvement of pediatric residents with community agencies. We have also identified key points to improve the experiences for both community sites and residents during a community pediatric rotation.