Implementing and evaluating an injury prevention curriculum within a pediatric residency program

Many pediatric residency programs struggle to incorporate injury prevention training into their curricula.

To analyze whether a 2-week injury prevention course helps pediatric residents to learn and retain more information than their peers who receive the standard education on injury prevention topics.

A mandatory 2-week injury prevention course is provided for all interns at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC). Residents at CCHMC, completed a 50-question test on basic injury prevention topics at intern orientation and at the end of their first and third years of training. A control group of two intern classes from comparable children's hospitals who did not receive the injury prevention course were given the identical test at similar time periods. Data were analyzed using SPSS, and t tests were used to calculate and compare the mean percent change in test scores.

Seventy-six pediatric interns were enrolled (33 intervention and 43 controls). After internship, posttests were obtained on 29 (88%) intervention residents and 38 (88%) controls. On completing residency, posttests were received from 16 (48%) CCHMC residents and 22 (51%) controls. There was no difference in demographics or prior injury prevention training between the groups at study enrollment. A total of 63.6% of controls reported receiving injury prevention training by the end of their residency. There was a significant difference in the improvement of mean test scores between the intervention and control groups after internship (14.1% vs. 3.2%; p < 0.001) and again after the third year (11.9% vs. 5.5%; p = 0.02).

An injury prevention curriculum for pediatric residents can significantly increase and sustain their fund of knowledge on these important topics.