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Developing and evaluating a residents' curriculum.
Janet P Hafler1, Kara M Connors, Kevin Volkan
1Office of Educational Development, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. jhafler@hms.harvard.edu
Medical Teacher
|July 14, 2005
Summary
A Bright Futures-based health education curriculum improved pediatric residents' clinical skills and confidence. Residents found the program effective and applicable to their practice.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Pediatrics
- Health Education
Background:
- Integrating health education into pediatric clinical practice is crucial.
- A standardized curriculum can enhance residents' ability to deliver health education.
- The Bright Futures guidelines provide a framework for comprehensive child health promotion.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the impact of a Bright Futures-based curriculum on pediatric residents' health education skills.
- To assess the perceived quality and difficulty of the curriculum.
- To determine the long-term application of learned principles in clinical practice.
Main Methods:
- A two-phase study utilizing quantitative and qualitative methods.
- Pre- and post-objective structured clinical examinations (OSCE) for 14 residents (control and intervention groups).
- Surveys assessing curriculum quality, difficulty, and practice application.
Main Results:
- Intervention group showed improved OSCE scores in three core concepts; control group did not.
- Performance improved in one concept for both groups; no change in two concepts for the intervention group.
- Residents rated the curriculum as high quality and low difficulty, reporting positive practice impact one year later.
Conclusions:
- The Bright Futures-based curriculum effectively enhances pediatric residents' health education skills.
- The curriculum content is teachable, learnable, and applicable to clinical practice.
- The intervention positively influences residents' perceptions and application of health education principles.