Search

Background and Objective: Despite the growing importance of global health (GH) training for pediatric residents, few mechanisms have cataloged GH educational opportunities offered by US pediatric residency programs. We sought to characterize GH education opportunities across pediatric residency programs and identify program characteristics associated with key GH education elements., Methods: Data on program and GH training characteristics were sought from program directors or their delegates of all US pediatric residency programs during 2013 to 2014. These data were used to compare programs with and without a GH track as well as across small, medium, and large programs. Program characteristics associated with the presence of key educational elements were identified by using bivariate logistic regression., Results: Data were collected from 198 of 199 active US pediatric residency programs (99.5%). Seven percent of pediatric trainees went abroad during 2013 to 2014. Forty-nine programs (24.7%) reported having a GH track, 66.1% had a faculty lead, 58.1% offered international field experiences, and 48.5% offered domestic field experiences. Forty-two percent of programs reported international partnerships across 153 countries. Larger programs, those with lead faculty, GH tracks, or partnerships had significantly increased odds of having each GH educational element, including pretravel preparation., Conclusions: The number of pediatric residency programs offering GH training opportunities continues to rise. However, smaller programs and those without tracks, lead faculty, or formal partnerships lag behind with organized GH curricula. As GH becomes an integral component of pediatric training, a heightened commitment is needed to ensure consistency of training experiences that encompass best practices in all programs., (Copyright © 2015 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.)

Background: Many pediatric residency programs struggle to incorporate injury prevention training into their curricula., Objective: To analyze whether a 2-week injury prevention course helps pediatric residents to learn and retain more information than their peers who receive the standard education on injury prevention topics., Methods: A mandatory 2-week injury prevention course is provided for all interns at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC). Residents at CCHMC, completed a 50-question test on basic injury prevention topics at intern orientation and at the end of their first and third years of training. A control group of two intern classes from comparable children's hospitals who did not receive the injury prevention course were given the identical test at similar time periods. Data were analyzed using SPSS, and t tests were used to calculate and compare the mean percent change in test scores., Results: Seventy-six pediatric interns were enrolled (33 intervention and 43 controls). After internship, posttests were obtained on 29 (88%) intervention residents and 38 (88%) controls. On completing residency, posttests were received from 16 (48%) CCHMC residents and 22 (51%) controls. There was no difference in demographics or prior injury prevention training between the groups at study enrollment. A total of 63.6% of controls reported receiving injury prevention training by the end of their residency. There was a significant difference in the improvement of mean test scores between the intervention and control groups after internship (14.1% vs. 3.2%; p < 0.001) and again after the third year (11.9% vs. 5.5%; p = 0.02)., Conclusions: An injury prevention curriculum for pediatric residents can significantly increase and sustain their fund of knowledge on these important topics.

BACKGROUND: An increasing number of medical trainees across specialties desire and expect Global Health (GH) experiences during training. It is useful for residency programs to know the impact that offering GH opportunities has on resident recruitment. The study objectives were to explore the importance of GH opportunities in residency selection among fourth-year medical students, examine the relationship between interest in GH and career plans, and describe students perspectives on prior GH experiences. METHODS: The authors administered an electronic survey to all fourth-year medical students attending 12 different US institutions in February 2020. Data from the ten schools who were able to comply with the survey distribution methodology and with response rates above 25% were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearsons correlation. RESULTS: A total of 707 fourth-year medical students from the included schools completed the survey out of 1554 possible students (46% response rate). One third of respondents ranked the presence of GH experiences in residency as moderately or very important and 26% felt that the presence of a formal GH curriculum was at least moderately important, with variation noted among specialties. After training, 65% of students envision practicing internationally in some capacity. A desire to care for underserved patients in their careers was significantly correlated with an interest in GH experiences during residency. CONCLUSIONS: The opportunity to be involved in GH experiences during training can be an important factor for many medical students when considering residency choice, and the availability of these opportunities may be a valuable recruitment tool. Students valuing GH opportunities during residency are more interested in working with underserved populations in their future careers.