Efficacy of a pediatric procedure curriculum on resident training

Abstract Background There is growing concern that residents are not receiving the necessary experience to become proficient with medical procedures. We created a structured curriculum to improve resident comprehension, experience and confidence with pediatric procedures. Methods A two-week procedure curriculum commenced with a three-day training course to review 26 pediatric procedures using lectures, videos, demonstrations and simulations. Residents spent the remainder of the rotation as the hospital's on-call procedure resident . Pre- and post-rotation surveys, knowledge testing and procedure logging were used to evaluate course effectiveness, along with follow up metrics a year after completing the rotation. Results were compared to a control group of residents completing their second year of residency who did not participate in the curriculum. Results Participants ( N  = 35) averaged 67.2 procedures over the 2 weeks, compared to 41.3 procedures for controls ( N  = 20) during their first 2 years of residency. Participants had a higher confidence than controls (3.0 vs. 2.5 on a five-point scale) and better knowledge (65% vs. 47% correct on testing), both statistically significant. Compared to their own individual pre-rotation scores, participants showed improved knowledge (49% vs. 65%) and confidence (2.0 vs. 3.0), both statistically significant. Long-term follow up showed that these improvements were mostly sustained a year later. Conclusions Overall, interns completing the rotation demonstrated procedure counts, knowledge levels, and confidence greater than rising third year residents. Participants were inclined to have superior confidence in procedures where higher procedure counts were achieved. Most results were sustained over the course of one year.