Exploring Communities: Use of Windshield Surveys in Pediatric Residency Education

Windshield surveys (WS) have been used to teach about social determinants of health (SDOH) through direct observation of communities. Limited information exists about how pediatric residency programs design and implement WS; therefore, the authors created a survey to understand their use. Twenty-one percent (61/290) of pediatric residency programs responded and 42 report using WS. Most require completion during first year of training (19/33). Learning objectives for the WS included themes on barriers to health, understanding resources and community characteristics. Resident assessment involved discussion with faculty (15/33), reflective writing (3/33), faculty review of WS (1/33), or a combination of these (8/33). To evaluate the curriculum, discussion (17/33), formal evaluations (7/33), or both (3/33) were used. Experiential activities like WS can teach about communities and SDOH, however, no standardization of methods or evaluation exist. Further research is needed on effective learner assessment and curriculum evaluation methods for residency programs wanting to implement WS.