In the Room Where it Happens: Advocating for Pediatric Content in the Pre-Clerkship Curriculum

Monday, May 6, 2024

8:00 AM – 9:30 AM ET

Location: Metro Toronto Convention Centre: 707

CE: Live CME: 1.5

Leader(s)

KO

Katherine O'Donnell, MD (she/her/hers)

Associate HMS Dean for UME at Boston Children's Hospital
Boston Children's Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Co-Leader(s)

Sarah Gustafson, MD (she/her/hers)

Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Los Angeles, California, United States
Adam Weinstein, MD (he/him/his)

Assistant Dean for Clinical Curriculum
Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University
North Haven, Connecticut, United States
Suzanne Schmidt, MD (she/her/hers)

Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Medical Education
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Travis Crook, MD

Associate Professor
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Courtney Judd, MD, MPH, MHPE (she/her/hers)

Faculty, Department of Pediatrics
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

Disclosure(s):

Katherine A. O'Donnell, MD: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Sarah Gustafson, MD: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Adam Weinstein, MD: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Suzanne Schmidt, MD: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Travis Crook, MD: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Courtney A. Judd, MD, MPH, MHPE: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Workshop

Description: Curricular reform and shortening of pre-clerkship curricula may adversely impact the amount of pediatric content covered in the pre-clerkship phase of medical school (1,2). However, pediatric content remains crucial in pre-clerkship spaces, for multiple reasons including: 1. Many non-pediatric specialists care for pediatric patients as part of their training or career (i.e., general surgery, emergency medicine, dermatology, military physicians). 2. Medical students report feeling underprepared for their pediatric clerkships, especially in the domain of physical exam skills (2). 3. Pediatricians have expertise in multiple widely generalizable clinical skills and topics, including but not limited to communication, observation as a patient assessment tool, and trauma-informed care (3). 4. Early exposure to pediatric faculty and content is important for recruitment to pediatric careers (4, 5). This interactive workshop led by members of the COMSEP Pre-Clerkship and Clinical Skills Collaborative will provide a forum to discuss these challenges and collaborate to craft concrete strategies and compelling proposals for inclusion of pediatric content and pediatric educators in the pre-clerkship phase.

Learning Objectives:

Illustrate approaches for involvement of pediatricians and inclusion of pediatric content in pre-clerkship curricular development
Compose a compelling proposal for inclusion of pediatric content in the pre-clerkship phase
Describe innovative approaches, including the idea of a pediatric pre-clerkship discipline director