A Pediatric Resident Advocacy in Complex Care Curriculum

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Medical Education
• Healthcare Advocacy
• Complex Care

Background:

• Children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) are a vulnerable population.
• Children with medical complexity (CMC) are a medically fragile subset of CYSHCN.
• A gap exists in pediatric residency curricula specifically for advocating for CYSHCN/CMC.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and implement an advocacy curriculum for pediatric residents caring for CMC.
• To evaluate the curriculum's impact on resident knowledge, attitudes, and comfort in advocacy.

Main Methods:

• A 4-week complex care rotation incorporated Kolb's experiential learning cycle.
• Curriculum included didactic video lectures and experiential site visits focused on advocacy.
• Residents completed pre/post knowledge tests and surveys assessing attitudes and comfort.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements in resident knowledge (p < .001) were observed post-curriculum.
• Residents reported enhanced attitudes, diversity sensitivity, and comfort in advocating for CMC.
• Qualitative feedback indicated overwhelmingly positive learner reception.

Conclusions:

• The developed curriculum effectively enhances advocacy skills for pediatric residents.
• This program, utilizing didactic and experiential methods, addresses a key educational competency.
• It can serve as a standalone resource or supplement existing complex care training.