Fellow Yale New Haven Hospital Yale University School of Medicine New Haven, Connecticut, United States
Background: Over the past decade, there has been a steadily increasing interest in the field of pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) among pediatric residents. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requires pediatric residents to complete 3 units of PEM or acute care. Although some residency programs offer additional focused training opportunities, pediatrics residents may not be exposed to the procedures, critically ill patients, or high volumes of patients to easily transition to PEM fellowship.
Objective: To examine the perception of first year PEM fellows regarding their preparedness during pediatric residency for PEM fellowship.
Design/Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of first year PEM fellows. Fellows completing an Emergency Medicine residency were excluded. A 50-item survey was electronically distributed by PEM program directors from November to December 2020 and consisted of five domains: professionalism, autonomy, psychomotor skills, clinical evaluation and management, and academia/scholarship. Fellows used a 5-point Likert scale to rate their ability to perform a range of tasks at the start of fellowship.
Results: 97/147 (66%) eligible first year fellows who completed a pediatric residency responded (Table 1). The majority of respondents strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that they were adequately prepared in areas of professionalism, psychomotor skills, and clinical evaluation and management, and academia and scholarship; the only exceptions were intravenous (IV) and intraosseous (IO) procedures where respondents reported that they felt somewhat or not at all prepared (Figure 1). There was more variation of responses in the autonomy domain. The majority of fellows (58%) feel that pediatric residency adequately prepared them for PEM fellowship (Figure 2). Conclusion(s): Overall, first year PEM fellows felt adequately prepared in the areas of professionalism, clinical evaluation and management, and academia and scholarship. Additional procedural training and increased autonomy during pediatric residency may benefit residents entering PEM fellowship.
Authors/Institutions: Rabia N. Malik, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, United States; Melissa L. Langhan, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, United States
