Clinical Fellow - Pediatric Emergency Medicine Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
Background: Over 90% of acutely ill/injured children are cared for in general emergency departments (GED) staffed by attending physicians (AP) and advanced practice providers (APP) with variable access to pediatric education. Disparities in pediatric outcomes exist; mortality rates among children are four times higher in the least pediatric-ready GEDs. Little is known about perceived pediatric emergency medicine education needs among GED providers. Objective: To describe GED providers prioritization of pediatric emergency topics. To identify self-reported information seeking behaviors and preferred learning modalities to receive pediatric information. Design/Methods: A REDCap survey was developed based on previous studies with input from subject matter experts in general and pediatric emergency medicine and piloted prior to dissemination. The 36-question survey included 13 demographic, 3 pediatric topic prioritization, 16 information seeking behaviors and 3 preferred learning modality questions. The survey was available on the WikEM website from 6/14/23 - 10/14/23 and was sent via email to users with two follow-up reminders to non-respondents. Results: Table 1 reports characteristics of the 397 AP and 145 APP respondents (mean age of AP was 43 and of APP was 44). Most physicians were emergency medicine trained. Most respondents worked in community emergency departments and spent less time on pediatric than adult education. Figure 1 reports pediatric emergency topic prioritization, information seeking behaviors, and preferred learning modalities for both groups. The top three priority topics were different for AP (neonatal, airway/respiratory, procedures) and APP (abdominal, airway/respiratory, bronchiolitis). Both AP and APP indicated that they seek most of their pediatric information through WikEM, other online medical resources, and communication with colleagues. The least used methods to seek information included webinars, social media, courses, and academic journals. Both groups indicated that clinical evidence-based pathways was their preferred modality for learning. Both reported insufficient time and not being able to find resources as barriers to pediatric education.
Conclusion(s): This is the first US national needs assessment survey of GED providers to identify pediatric emergency topic prioritization, information seeking behaviors, and preferred learning modalities. These findings can be used to inform national efforts to improve pediatric emergency care through education of AP and APP in GEDs.
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