Innovation in Pediatric Education: The Path to Transforming Pediatric Graduate Medical Education

Abstract

The mission of the Initiative for Innovation in Pediatric Education (IIPE) is to “initiate, facilitate and oversee innovative change in pediatric residency education through a carefully monitored, outcome-directed experimentation.”1 Our mission in these “IIPE pages” of Pediatrics is to keep the community informed of our progress. To this end, we begin the story of IIPE with a chronicle of its early history. In an article in the January 2010 issue of Pediatrics , Dr M. Douglas Jones addressed the Residency Review and Redesign Project (R3P) of the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP), a 4-year self-study of the state of pediatric residency training.2 Through the generosity of the ABP Foundation, the outcome of this 4-year gestation was the birth of IIPE in May 2009. Three organizations, highly invested in this process, appointed 2 members each to become part of the oversight committee for IIPE. Drs George Lister and Stephen Ludwig represent the ABP, Drs Aaron Friedman and Bruder Stapleton represent the Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs, and Drs Ann Burke and Robert McGregor represent the Association of Pediatric Program Directors (APPD). The first task of the committee was to establish the Federation of Pediatric Organizations (FOPO) as the administrative home for this new entity, which it accomplished with the help of Dr Theodore C. Sectish, executive director of FOPO. Degnon and Associates was contracted to provide management services. A charter was established and agreed on by the 7 member organizations of FOPO. We have come a … Address correspondence to Carol Carraccio, MD, MA, Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland, Room N5W56, 22 S Greene St, Baltimore, MD 21201. E-mail: ccarraccio{at}peds.umaryland.edu