ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education now requires all pediatric residency training programs assess medical knowledge competency. PURPOSE: The goal of this project was to determine whether pediatric residency training using patient-based/experiential teaching made residents competent in the area of immunization knowledge or whether additional teaching strategies might need to be developed. METHODS: Cross-sectional and longitudinal study designs were used to determine improvement in immunization knowledge on a multiple-choice quiz over the 3 years of residency training. RESULTS: Both the cross-sectional and longitudinal data showed a statistically significant improvement in performance between residency training Years 1 and 2 but not between Years 2 and 3 on the quiz. This statistically significant relationship by year of training was seen despite the modest reliability of the short quiz and the sample size. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that pediatric residency education using patient-based/experiential teaching is effective in teaching first year residents about immunization knowledge but is not as effective for 2nd- and 3rd-year residents. Other instructional methods such as computer-based cases could be employed during the 2nd and 3rd years.
Subject(s)
Clinical Competence/standards , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Immunization , Internship and Residency/standards , Pediatrics/education , Analysis of Variance , Clinical Competence/statistics & numerical data , Cross-Sectional Studies , Curriculum , Educational Measurement , Educational Status , Humans , Internship and Residency/statistics & numerical data , Longitudinal Studies , Pediatrics/standards , Pediatrics/statistics & numerical data , Statistics as Topic , United StatesABSTRACT
The objective of this study is to determine pediatric residents' perception of Healthy Steps for Young Children, Healthy Steps Iowa, and Healthy Steps specialists. Twenty-nine of 37 (78%) pediatric residents participated in this survey. The Healthy Steps specialists facilitated pediatric residents' learning of anticipatory guidance (69%), and assured the patients received information efficiently (69%). Sixty-two percent reported that the Healthy Steps specialists did not interfere with their relationship as the patient's primary care provider. Seventy-six percent would consider using Healthy Steps specialists in their future practice. Program improvement areas include improving clinic efficiency with the incorporation of Healthy Steps specialists; increasing the pediatric residents' awareness of family violence, mental illness, and substance abuse; and improving their method of referral to community contacts.
