Kolb's Experiential Learning in Action: A Curriculum for Residents

Although there is a growing number of children dependent on medical technology, graduating paediatric residents are underprepared to adequately care for these patients.

We aimed to help fill this educational gap by piloting a novel hands-on medical device curriculum and assessing learner-driven outcomes.

We used Kern's six-step approach to develop, implement, and evaluate our curriculum. Five educational workshops (central lines, chest tubes, enteral feeds, tracheostomies, shunts) were designed using Kolb's experiential learning theory. Workshops were led by multidisciplinary content experts and integrated into a noon conference series. We studied the curricular impact by measuring feasibility and learner relevance as well as competency-based outcomes via self-evaluations, board-style knowledge assessments and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Milestones.

Thirteen postgraduate year 1 (PGY1) paediatric residents participated in the curriculum. Thematic analysis highlighted the value of practical application of skills with improved comfort managing medical devices. Exposed residents demonstrated statistical improvement in self-assessed skills associated with 3/5 devices and in 9/10 Milestones. These residents also scored higher on the knowledge assessment compared to nonexposed peers, though this was not statistically significant.

Our study demonstrates the value of a hands-on medical device curriculum in formal paediatric resident education. While this curriculum was successfully integrated into a traditional didactic series, was universally enjoyed, and had a meaningful impact on acquired skills and knowledge, further research on patient-level outcomes may be valuable for programmes interested in adapting a similar learning experience into their current educational model.