Resident The Children's Hospital at Montefiore Bronx, New York, United States
Background: Pediatricians have long been on the frontline caring for newly arrived immigrant children who often present with complex medical and psychosocial needs. A high number of migrants are crossing the US-Mexico border, and many families have been relocated to sanctuary cities. With over 100,000 new migrants arriving in New York City in the past year, local pediatricians face unique challenges. Studies demonstrate that physicians do not feel prepared to care for this population, suggesting the need for more training. To address this, we developed a pediatric immigrant health curriculum emphasizing biopsychosocial needs. Objective: To assess resident physicians’ knowledge and confidence caring for newly arrived immigrant children after a pediatric immigrant health curriculum. Design/Methods: In an academic hospital in the Bronx, NY, 85 residents (60 pediatric and 25 family medicine) participated in an IRB-approved pilot study of a pediatric immigrant health curriculum. Curricular learning objectives include gaining knowledge of immigration policies and statistics, understanding current medical guidelines (as per AAP and CDC), addressing social and emotional needs, taking a migration history, advocating, and building community partnerships.
19 baseline pre-curricular questions include: demographics, prior training and experience in immigrant health (adapted from the AAP 2017 Periodic Survey), and confidence and knowledge caring for newly arrived immigrant children. 5 post-curricular questions include confidence and knowledge caring for newly arrived immigrant children. Both multiple-choice and Likert-type questions were utilized.
Baseline data will be presented descriptively. We will evaluate: 1) If prior training and clinical experience are correlated with confidence caring for newly arrived immigrant children, 2) If resident knowledge and confidence change after the curriculum. We will dichotomize Likert-type data and analyze using Chi Squared and McNemar tests, as indicated. Lectures will be conducted from 9/2023- 2/2024, and survey analysis completed by 3/2024.
