Pediatric Education in Community Settings: Where Do We Go From Here?

Abstract

Pediatric education in community settings is an idea whose time has come. The board of the Johnson & Johnson Pediatric Institute recognized this reality, and they deserve great credit for bringing together this impressive group of people for what I believe to be a watershed event. The conference includes, for the first time in my experience, participants from community practice and academic societies such as the Ambulatory Pediatric Association (APA), the American Board of Pediatrics, the Association of Pediatric Program Directors (APPD), and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), including members of its resident section. At least half of residency program directors are here, as are many chairs of pediatric departments in university and community hospitals. Representatives of funding agencies—the Maternal and Child Health Bureau and the Health Resources and Services Administration—are here as well; one of our speakers heads the Center for the Future of Children of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. This conference is a pivotal event in medical education. Like those who remember another pivotal event, Woodstock '69, we will look back with nostalgia and pride and say that we were here. I consider a meeting successful if I leave with one good new idea. At this conference, we have heard many creative and provocative ideas about community-based education, and we will be thinking about them on our way home and during the next several months. One of my favorite quotations, however, is from Alfred North Whitehead: "Ideas won't keep. Something must be done about them.