Piloting a Transition of Care Curriculum at Two Bi-coastal Medicine-Pediatrics Residency Programs

Lack of consistency in primary care residency training exists in transitions of care (TOC) of adolescents from pediatric to adult medicine, which can lead to conflicting or incomplete training. To fill this gap, we developed a curriculum based on the Got Transition Six Core Elements and piloted it at two bicoastal, academic Medicine-Pediatrics (Med-Peds) residency programs.

The goals of this project are to increase resident TOC knowledge, increase transition discussion comfort and skills, and obtain feedback for curriculum improvement.

Two educational sessions were held at both institutions between 2020-2021. Of 32 potential resident participants, 26 participated in session one and 22 participated in session two. Sessions included a didactic presentation, small group activities, and a guest speaker discussing transitional experience. Electronic pre-session, post-session, and retention surveys evaluated resident knowledge, comfort, and self-reported skills of TOC. A Hybrid Type II design was used with mixed methods to evaluate curriculum effectiveness and implementation.

The first and second sessions had 81% and 68% attendance, respectively. Eighty-four percent completed the pre-session survey, 65% completed the post-session survey, and 68% completed the retention survey. TOC knowledge increased by 19% overall (p<0.001). First-year residents gained the most knowledge and implementation skills. Residents participating in alternating medicine and pediatric clinics gained more knowledge than those in a combined Med-Peds clinic (p=0.001). Comfort increased for both initiating and continuing TOC discussions after the first session. Knowledge retention was not statistically significant.

A standardized TOC curriculum can improve resident knowledge and is easily implemented at multiple institutions. Early-in-training residents and those in alternating medicine and pediatric clinics particularly benefit.