Complete Blood Count Values Over Time in Young Children During the Dengue Virus Epidemic in the Dominican Republic From 2018 to 2020.

Dengue fever (DF) is a mosquito-borne illness with substantial economic and societal impact. Understanding laboratory trends of hospitalized Dominican Republic (DR) pediatric patients could help develop screening procedures in low-resourced settings. We sought to describe laboratory findings over time in DR children with DF and DF severity from 2018 to 2020.

Child Health Needs and the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Workforce: 2020-2040.

Approximately 30 million ill and injured children annually visit emergency departments (EDs) in the United States. Data suggest that patients seen in pediatric EDs by board-certified pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) physicians receive higher-quality care than those cared for by non-PEM physicians. These benefits, coupled with the continued growth in PEM since its inception in the early 1990s, have impacted child health broadly.

The 2019-2020 Dengue Fever Epidemic: Genomic Markers Indicating Severity in Dominican Republic Children.

We performed an observational cohort study to assess associations between genetic factors of dengue fever (DF) severity in children in the Dominican Republic. A total of 488 participants had serologically confirmed DF. We replicated the association between the IFIH1 gene (rs1990760) and severe DF (n = 80/488, p = 0.

Pediatric Emergency Medicine Training: A Survey of Current Status in Latin America.

Unlabelled: Pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) is a relatively new and rapidly evolving subspecialty in many countries. The purposes of this study were to describe the characteristics and to find common/shared practices in current available PEM fellowship programs across Latin America.

Methods: An electronic, multicenter survey was created and stored on Google forms.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Pediatric Graduate Medical Education: Lessons Learned and Pathways Forward.

In this article, the authors describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pediatric graduate medical education (GME), including the impact on clinical experiences for trainees, teaching methods used, trainee wellness, GME leader wellness and support, and the traditional interview process. A thorough literature review was done to identify impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on pediatric GME. In addition, information was collected through Association of Pediatric Program Directors virtual cafes and conferences.

Psychiatric Education for Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellows: Should We be Doing More?

Unlabelled: The number of psychiatric encounters is steadily increasing across all pediatric emergency departments. Based on this growing national crisis, we hypothesized there is a lack of robust education in behavioral/mental health emergencies during pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) fellowship.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey of PEM fellowship directors.

Narrative Performance Level Assignments at Initial Entrustment and Graduation: Integrating EPAs and Milestones to Improve Learner Assessment.

Purpose: To determine which narrative performance level for each general pediatrics entrustable professional activity (EPA) reflects the minimum level clinical competency committees (CCCs) felt should be associated with graduation as well as initial entrustment and compare expected narrative performance levels (ENPLs) for each EPA with actual narrative performance levels (ANPLs) assigned to residents at initial entrustment.

Method: A series of 5 narratives, corresponding to the 5 milestone performance levels, were developed for each of the 17 general pediatrics EPAs. In academic year (AY) 2015-2016, the CCCs at 22 Association of Pediatric Program Directors Longitudinal Educational Assessment Research Network member sites reported ENPLs for initial entrustment and at time of graduation.

Justifications for Discrepancies Between Competency Committee and Program Director Recommended Resident Supervisory Roles.

Objective: To explore justifications for differences between summative entrustment decisions made about pediatric residents by individuals who are charged with the review of residents (clinical competency committee, or CCC, members) and those who ultimately make final summative decisions about resident performance (program directors, or PDs).

Methods: Individual CCC member and PD supervisory role categorizations were made in the 2015 to 2016 academic year at 14 pediatric residency programs, placing residents into 1 of 5 progressive supervisory roles. When PD recommendations differed from CCC members, a free-text justification was requested.

Influence of Clinical Competency Committee Review Process on Summative Resident Assessment Decisions.

Background: Clinical Competency Committees (CCCs) are charged with making summative assessment decisions about residents.

Objective: We explored how review processes CCC members utilize influence their decisions regarding residents' milestone levels and supervisory roles.

Methods: We conducted a multisite longitudinal prospective observational cohort study at 14 pediatrics residency programs during academic year 2015-2016.

Performance of International Medical Graduates in Pediatric Residency: A Study of Peer and Faculty Perceptions.

Background: International medical graduates (IMGs) constitute approximately 25% of the US pediatric workforce. Their recruitment into US residency training raises concerns regarding their competence, although this has not been formally studied. Cincinnati Children's Hospital has systematically recruited IMGs over the past 16 years.

Development and Implementation of an End-of-Life Curriculum for Pediatric Residents.

Background: Caring for a child near the end of life (EOL) can be a stressful experience. Resident physicians are often the frontline providers responsible for managing symptoms, communicating difficult information, and pronouncing death, yet they often receive minimal education on EOL care.

Objective: To develop and implement an EOL curriculum and to study its impact on resident comfort and attitudes surrounding EOL care.

Thresholds and interpretations: How clinical competency committees identify pediatric residents with performance concerns.

Background: Clinical competency committee (CCC) identification of residents with performance concerns is critical for early intervention.

Methods: Program directors and 94 CCC members at 14 pediatric residency programs responded to a written survey prompt asking them to describe how they identify residents with performance concerns. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis.

Evaluation and Impact of the "Advanced Pediatric Life Support" Course in the Care of Pediatric Emergencies in Spain.

Introduction: The Advanced Pediatric Life Support (APLS) course was introduced in the training of professionals who care for pediatric emergencies in Spain in 2005.

Objective: To analyze the impact of the APLS course in the current clinical practice in Spanish PEDs.

Methods: The directors of APLS courses were asked about information regarding the courses given to date, especially on the results of the satisfaction survey completed by students at the end of the course.

Implementation of an Innovative Pediatric Hospital Medicine Education Series.

Objective: Limitations on resident duty hours require formal education programs to be high-yield and impactful. Hospital medicine (HM) topics provide the foundation for inpatient pediatric knowledge pertinent to pediatric residents and medical students. Our primary objective was to describe the creation of an innovative pediatric HM curriculum designed to increase learners’ medical knowledge and their confidence in communicating with patients and families about these topics; our secondary objective was to evaluate the level of innovation of the conference sessions perceived by the learners.

Diversity and inclusion training in pediatric departments.

Background And Objective: The diversifying US population of children necessitates assessing the diversity of the pediatric academic workforce and its level of cultural competency training. Such data are essential for workforce and educational policies.

Methods: An 8-question survey was sent to 131 US pediatric chairs to assess plans for diversity, targeted groups, departmental diversity, diversity measures, perceived success in diversity, and presence and type of cultural competency training.

Improving resident handoffs for children transitioning from the intensive care unit.

Background And Objective: Handoffs ensure patient safety during patient care transitions in the hospital setting. At our institution, verbal handoffs communicated by resident physicians are suggested practice for patients transferring from the PICU to the hospital medicine (HM) service. Despite their importance, these verbal handoffs occurred only 76% of the time before patient arrival on HM units.

Important knowledge for parents of children with heart disease: parent, nurse, and physician views.

Objectives: Parental understanding of their children's heart disease is inadequate, which may contribute to poor health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to determine what parental knowledge is important in the care of children with heart disease from the perspective of parents, nurses, and physicians.

Methods: Focus groups were formed with parents of children with single ventricle congenital heart disease (CHD), biventricular CHD, and heart transplantation, and with nurses and physicians who provide care for these children.

Putting the pediatrics milestones into practice: a consensus roadmap and resource analysis.

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has partnered with member boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties to initiate the next steps in advancing competency-based assessment in residency programs. This initiative, known as the Milestone Project, is a paradigm shift from traditional assessment efforts and requires all pediatrics residency programs to report individual resident progression along a series of 4 to 5 developmental levels of performance, or milestones, for individual competencies every 6 months beginning in June 2014. The effort required to successfully make this shift is tremendous given the number of training programs, training institutions, and trainees.

Quality improvement skills for pediatric residents: from lecture to implementation and sustainability.

Quality improvement (QI) skills are relevant to efforts to improve the health care system. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) program requirements call for resident participation in local and institutional QI efforts, and the move to outcomes-based accreditation is resulting in greater focus on the resulting learning and clinical outcomes. Many programs have enhanced practice-based learning and improvement (PBLI) and systems based practice (SBP) curricula, although efforts to actively involve residents in QI activities appear to be lagging.