A modified Delphi study for development of an adolescent medicine curriculum for emergency medicine residents

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Purpose: More than 1,500,000 adolescents in the United States report using emergency services for the majority of their medical needs. Although the American Council for Graduate Medical Education offers some guidance on the inclusion of pediatric topics in an emergency medicine (EM) residency curriculum, it does not specifically address adolescent-related competencies. We aimed to develop a consensus on which adolescent health topics are most important to cover in a didactic curriculum for EM residents.Methods: Physicians from multiple specialties, such as EM, pediatric EM, and adolescent medicine, were invited as panelists in a modified Delphi process. In round 1, the panelists were asked to determine which competencies in adolescent medicine are most important for a graduating EM resident to master. In round 2, they were asked to specify the competencies that should be included in an EM residency didactic curriculum. In round 3, they prioritized the most critical competencies for curriculum inclusion.Results: Consensus was reached on a total of 26 topics that were found crucial to be included in a didactic curriculum for EM residents. Of these, the panel prioritized the following: (1) “manage a patient presenting after reported sexual assault,” (2) “accurately diagnose ovarian torsion,” and (3) “manage a patient presenting for symptoms of sexually transmitted infection.” Conclusion: The modified Delphi process yielded recommendations to guide the development of an adolescent medicine curriculum for EM residents. Sexual and reproductive healthcare issues were identified as the most important topics.