Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellow SUNY Downstate/ NYCHHC - Kings County SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University Brooklyn, New York, United States
Background: Many adolescents use the Emergency Department (ED) as their sole resource for primary care and sexual health care. This provides an opportunity to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STI) and unintended pregnancy as well as to educate teenagers about their bodies and sexual health. There is no standard curriculum on sexual health as part of Pediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) fellowship education.
Objective: Our goal is to evaluate what is taught in PEM fellowship about adolescent sexual health.
Design/Methods: We administered an anonymous questionnaire to both PEM fellows and program directors (PD). The questionnaire was distributed through the PEM Program Director Survey Committee. The questionnaire was sent to 88 PDs and 305 fellows total. An introductory email explaining the purpose of the study and a link to the online questionnaire was sent. The questionnaire was created using SurveyMonkey (www.surveymonkey.com). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.
Results: We achieved a 43% survey response rate from PDs (38 out of 88) and a 24% survey response rate from fellows (73 out of 305). The PD respondents included 61% females and almost all (86%) are between ages 35 to 54. 73% of the fellows are female, and they are all between 25 to 44 years old. There was a great deal of variability in the amount of adolescent sexual health education PDs provide their fellows in the form of lectures and bedside teaching cases. A majority of survey respondents (86% of fellows and 66% of the PDs) agreed there should be a standard PEM curriculum to teach about adolescent sexual health. Over half (53% of PDs and 56% of fellows) are not satisfied with the number of training opportunities for adolescent sexual health. Conclusion(s): We found variability in adolescent sexual health training during PEM fellowship although fellows and PDs agree there should be a standardized curriculum. We recommend the American Board of Pediatrics form a committee to decrease variability in the training of PEM fellows on adolescent sexual health.
Respondent Characteristics
Number of lectures and bedside teaching cases program directors provide their fellows throughout the three years of fellowship.
The importance fellows and program directors place on each adolescent sexual health skill.
Fellows' comfort level with each skill at the start of fellowship and their current comfort level.
Authors/Institutions: Emily Weber, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Brooklyn, New York, United States; Jennifer Chao, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Brooklyn, New York, United States; Atsuko Koyama, The University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix, Phoenix, Arizona, United States; Richard Sinert, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Brooklyn, New York, United States
