Piloting the first pediatric-specific serious illness conversation program training at Baylor Scott & White

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Medicine
• Palliative Care
• Medical Education

Background:

• Growing recognition of advanced care planning needs for children with chronic illnesses.
• Increasing lifespan of pediatric patients with complex health conditions.
• Importance of serious illness conversations in pediatric care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of Serious Illness Conversation Program (SICP) training on pediatric residents' confidence.
• To assess the change in the number of serious illness conversations led by residents post-training.
• To determine the sustained effect of SICP training on resident confidence over six months.

Main Methods:

• A quality improvement project involving SICP training for pediatric residents.
• Administered pre- and post-training surveys using a 7-point Likert scale to measure confidence.
• Follow-up surveys conducted at six months to assess longitudinal confidence levels and track conversation frequency.

Main Results:

• Significant increase in residents' confidence in initiating serious illness conversations (2.1 to 4.9, P < 0.01).
• Marked improvement in confidence regarding eliciting patient goals and values (3.5 to 6.1, P < 0.01).
• Sustained high confidence levels at six months post-training, yet the volume of conversations remained low.

Conclusions:

• SICP training effectively boosts pediatric residents' confidence in conducting serious illness conversations.
• A discrepancy exists between increased resident confidence and the actual number of serious illness conversations conducted.
• Further strategies may be needed to translate enhanced confidence into increased practice of advanced care planning in pediatrics.