Pediatric Emergency Fellows Research Articles

Innovations in Disaster Preparedness Training: An Emergency Preparedness Curriculum within a Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship

Introduction:Improved understanding of pediatric emergency preparedness can ensure the safety of children during disaster events, a population that is often overlooked.1 2 One method to minimize disparities is to increase the pediatric preparedness workforce by providing education to trainees about the foundations of this field.Method:A pediatric emergency preparedness curriculum was created as part of an elective prehospital track within a pediatric emergency medicine fellowship program at a quaternary pediatric hospital.Results:The curriculum focuses on three domains: education, research, and administration. The trainee is required to participate in local and regional educational opportunities. Locally, trainees create and facilitate at least one tabletop exercise about a preparedness topic of their choice. They also attend regional and state-wide preparedness drills to foster better understanding of integrated system processes. Additional educational opportunities involve the creation of asynchronous learning modules for their division and development of just-in-time resources for disaster events. For research, they have the opportunity to pursue an original project in the field and participate in other research activities with the track director. The administration domain prepares the trainee to be a leader in the field. Trainees are active participants within the emergency department’s preparedness committee and during hospital-wide preparedness meetings. These meetings develop protocols and policies as well as educational initiatives. Fellows are also encouraged to join national collaborative preparedness efforts through the American Academy of Pediatrics and the EMSC innovation and Improvement Center (EIIC).Conclusion:This curriculum provides an introduction to and continued education about disaster preparedness to pediatric emergency fellows early in their career. Completion of the sub-track fosters future leaders in the disaster medicine field. In the future, this curriculum can be adopted by other medical training programs to expand understanding of pediatric preparedness concepts.

Pediatric Emergency Medicine Training in Procedural Sedation: Is It Time for a Standardized Curriculum?

Pediatric procedural sedation (PS) has been performed with increasing frequency by pediatric emergency physicians for recent years. Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Pediatric Emergency Medicine fellowship core competency requirements do not specify the manner in which fellows should become proficient in pediatric PS. We surveyed the variety of training experience provided during fellowship and whether those surveyed felt that their training was sufficient. A 35-question survey offered to pediatric emergency fellows and recent (within 10 years) graduates collected data on pediatric PS training during fellowship. A follow-up questionnaire was sent to fellowship directors at programs where fellow or graduate respondents stated that a sedation curriculum that existed asked details of their program. There were 95 respondents to the survey, 62% of which had completed pediatric emergency medicine fellowship training. Of respondents, 65% reported having a formal sedation curriculum during fellowship. Of those who participated in a formal curriculum, 82% of respondents felt comfortable performing sedation, whereas the remaining 18% required additional preceptorship and/or more formal training to feel proficient. Fifty-six percent of respondents reported having to complete a set number of sedations before being allowed to sedate independently. Of 17 programs contacted, 9 fellowship directors responded. All 9 included didactics, 6 (66.6%) of 9 included evidence-based medicine literature review, and 6 (66.6%) of 9 included simulation. Other modalities used included supervised clinical experience in a pediatric sedation unit, a 2-week rotation with a hospital sedation team, online sedation modules, and precepted sedations using each pharmacologic agent including nitrous oxide, ketamine, propofol, and ketamine-propofol combination. Ketamine was the most frequently used agent for sedation (87%). Pediatric emergency medicine fellowship requirements lack a clearly defined pathway for training in PS. Data collected from both current and former fellows depict inconsistency in training experience and suboptimal comfort level in performing these procedures. We suggest that fellows receive a more comprehensive and varied experience with multiple teaching modalities to improve proficiency with this critical and complex aspect of emergency pediatric care.

Evidence-Based Medicine Curriculum Improves Pediatric Emergency Fellows' Scores on In-Training Examinations.

The aim of this study was to determine if implementation of our evidence-based medicine (EBM) curriculum had an effect on pediatric emergency medicine fellows' scores on the relevant section of the in-training examination (ITE). We obtained deidentified subscores for 22 fellows over 6 academic years for the Core Knowledge in Scholarly Activities (SA) and, as a balance measure, Emergencies Treated Medically sections. We divided the subscores into the following 3 instruction periods: "baseline" for academic years before our current EBM curriculum, "transition" for academic years with use of a research method curriculum with some overlapping EBM content, and "EBM" for academic years with our current EBM curriculum. We analyzed data using the Kruskal-Wallis test, the Mann-Whitney U test, and multivariate mixed-effects linear models. The SA subscore median was higher during the EBM period in comparison with the baseline and transition periods. In contrast, the Emergencies Treated Medically subscore median was similar across instruction periods. Multivariate modeling demonstrated that our EBM curriculum had the following independent effects on the fellows' SA subscore: (1) in comparison with the transition period, the fellows' SA subscore was 21 percentage points higher (P = 0.005); and (2) in comparison to the baseline period, the fellows' SA subscore was 28 percentage points higher during the EBM curriculum instruction period (P < 0.001). Our EBM curriculum was associated with significantly higher scores on the SA section of the ITE. Pediatric emergency medicine educators could consider using fellows' scores on this section of the ITE to assess the effect of their EBM curricula.

LO81: Bridging the GAP: A deliberate practice method for learning Genital Abnormalities in Prepubescent girls

Introduction: Correctly identifying pathology in pre-pubertal females is a high-stakes physical examination skill. Currently, learning this skill relies heavily on case-by-case exposure, which is variable, limited and often results in suboptimal skill. Thus, there is a need to develop and evaluate learning platforms that simulate the presentation and diagnosis of this important clinical task. We developed an on-line learning and assessment platform that allowed the deliberate practice of 158 pre-pubertal female genital image interpretations . We examined the quantity of skill acquisition by deriving performance metrics and learning curves. Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional study administered via an on-line learning and assessment platform. Colposcopic images were acquired from a child abuse clinic. Two child abuse experts interpreted images to determine case solutions and 40% of cases had medical or traumatic pathology. Further, to validate image interpretations, a unique set of five child abuse and pediatric gynaecology experts reviewed the cases. Study participants were recruited from the USA and Canada and were required to complete all 158 cases. For each image, learners designated cases as normal or abnormal and if abnormal indicated the abnormal area on the image. The primary outcome was the change in accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. Results: We enrolled 107 participants, 26 medical students, 31 pediatric residents, 24 pediatric emergency fellows, and 26 pediatric emergency attendings. For all participants, the change in accuracy was +9.6% for accuracy (&lt;0.001), +1.4% for sensitivity (p=0.6) and +15.7% (p&lt;0.001) for specificity. The final score for accuracy, sensitivity and specificity was 79.5%, 66.1%, and 87.8%, respectively. There was no difference between learner types with respect to summary performance metrics (accuracy, p=0.15; sensitivity, p=0.44; specificity, p=0.54). Learning curves show maximal learning gains (inflection point) up until 100 cases. Conclusion: Deliberate practice of pre-pubertal female image interpretation was effective for ensuring predictable skill improvement for normal cases but was less effective for abnormal cases. Future research could examine how to refine the education tool to better serve diagnostic skill of abnormal cases.

An innovative pediatric chest tube insertion task trainer simulation: a technical report and pilot study.

Iatrogenic complications associated with chest tube insertion (CTI) could be related to the gaps in the procedural fidelity of the current CTI training models and their insufficiency to support training of procedural mastery. A CTI bench model simulation developed with reference to preexisting curriculum increases trainees' exposure and practice of this clinical skill. Newly developed training models need to be recognized by trainees as a usable learning device. In this report, we describe the development of a novel CTI model, based on curriculum, and survey its usability as a training model among pediatric trainees. Based on the acute trauma life support curriculum for CTI and expert interview, a pediatric CTI task trainer (PCTITT) model was developed, piloted, and then implemented for usability by volunteer pediatric residents and pediatric emergency fellows in 2 procedural training courses. Participants responded to 11 questions designed to capture self-reported attitudes toward the usability of the PCTITT as a training model for CTI. Results were obtained using a subjective 5-point Likert scale. Of the 32 participants, we achieved a response rate of 75%. Of these respondents, 92% had some kind of CTI hands-on training in the past, and 50% had experience with a real patient. Of these respondents, 91% recommended this model for training, and 80% stated that this model was superior to previous models. A PCTITT is an easy to create and feasible bench top task trainer to teach CTI skills, which integrates with other simulations currently in use the process of teaching CTI. Trainees recognized it as usable and superior to previous models. Future work needs to focus on the improvement of model fidelity, skills transferability, and tool validation.

Pediatric emergency medicine asynchronous e-learning: a multicenter randomized controlled Solomon four-group study.

Asynchronous e-learning allows for targeted teaching, particularly advantageous when bedside and didactic education is insufficient. An asynchronous e-learning curriculum has not been studied across multiple centers in the context of a clinical rotation. We hypothesize that an asynchronous e-learning curriculum during the pediatric emergency medicine (EM) rotation improves medical knowledge among residents and students across multiple participating centers. Trainees on pediatric EM rotations at four large pediatric centers from 2012 to 2013 were randomized in a Solomon four-group design. The experimental arms received an asynchronous e-learning curriculum consisting of nine Web-based, interactive, peer-reviewed Flash/HTML5 modules. Postrotation testing and in-training examination (ITE) scores quantified improvements in knowledge. A 2 × 2 analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) tested interaction and main effects, and Pearson's correlation tested associations between module usage, scores, and ITE scores. A total of 256 of 458 participants completed all study elements; 104 had access to asynchronous e-learning modules, and 152 were controls who used the current education standards. No pretest sensitization was found (p = 0.75). Use of asynchronous e-learning modules was associated with an improvement in posttest scores (p < 0.001), from a mean score of 18.45 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 17.92 to 18.98) to 21.30 (95% CI = 20.69 to 21.91), a large effect (partial η(2) = 0.19). Posttest scores correlated with ITE scores (r(2) = 0.14, p < 0.001) among pediatric residents. Asynchronous e-learning is an effective educational tool to improve knowledge in a clinical rotation. Web-based asynchronous e-learning is a promising modality to standardize education among multiple institutions with common curricula, particularly in clinical rotations where scheduling difficulties, seasonality, and variable experiences limit in-hospital learning.