265 - Teaching Pediatric Residents about Primary Care Screening Guidelines

Poster Number: 265
Publication Number: 265.419

Maheen Quadri, Northwestern University The Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States; Tara S. Williams, Nemours Children's Hospital, Orlando, FL, United States; Sandra Sanguino, APA, Chicago, IL, United States

Background: Although pediatric residents are exposed to a vast number of screening guidelines, no published curricula are available to teach residents the principles of screening and guideline development, and how to interpret screening guidelines in primary care.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a curriculum to improve resident 1) knowledge of the development and interpretation of primary care screening guidelines and 2) confidence in their ability to apply screening guidelines in continuity clinic.

Design/Methods: Kern’s six-step approach was used for curriculum development. The curriculum consisted of two 20 minute live synchronous modules. Module 1 reviewed the principles of screening and how organizations such as the United States Preventive Services Task Force and American Academy of Pediatrics develop guidelines. Module 2 used blood pressure screening as an example topic to explore how to interpret and apply screening guidelines in the primary care setting. The curriculum was piloted with 5 residents, modified based on their feedback, then delivered to 6 of 12 randomly assigned continuity clinic groups within a pediatric residency program. Active participation was encouraged using Poll Everywhere. Knowledge and confidence were assessed using a pre-and post-curriculum survey distributed to all residents. Composite knowledge scores for Modules 1 & 2 were calculated. Descriptive analyses were used to identify participant characteristics. Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare scores pre- and post-curriculum.  

Results: Of 98 residents, 25 (26%) were available to participate in both modules. Overall survey completion for all 98 residents was 43% for the pre-survey and 29% for the post-survey. PGY levels were represented equally (PGY1 36%, PGY2 30%, PGY3 32%). Non-participating respondents were excluded from further analyses pertaining to each module. Mean knowledge scores for screening guideline interpretation (total possible 2) increased from 1.17 to 1.2 (p = 0.8) and confidence (total possible 5) increased from 3.14 to 3.4 (p = 0.4). Mean knowledge scores for blood pressure screening guideline application (total possible 5) increased significantly from 1.1 to 2.1 (p = 0.01) and confidence (total possible 5) increased from 2.17 to 2.69 (p = 0.06).Conclusion(s): A curriculum to teach residents about primary care screening guidelines demonstrated significant improvement in knowledge of the example topic of blood pressure screening. Future directions include repeat curriculum delivery with improved survey completion in order to compare results between participating and non-participating residents.