2009 Southern Regional Meeting Abstracts
Session: Medical Education and Medical Ethics
Survey of Pediatric Resident Advocacy Attitudes, Practice and Knowledge
Quigley J1, Chen C2, Northrip K1. 1University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY and 2Children's National Medical Center, Washington D.C., DC.
Purpose of Study: To evaluate pediatric resident child advocacy attitudes, practice and knowledge. In 1996, the Pediatric Residency Review Committee added child advocacy to program requirements for residency education. The AdvocacyOnCall.org website was created to increase the knowledge and comfort of residents in regard to patient-level, community-level and legislative advocacy. A pre-, immediate post- and follow-up post-survey method was designed to assess the efficacy of the website. This study describes pre-survey data.
Methods Used: We distributed online pre-surveys to all UKY pediatric, medicine/pediatrics, and triple board residents. They were then required to complete an online educational session using AdvocacyOnCall.org during their pediatric clinic rotation. An immediate post-survey followed. Follow-up post-surveys will be distributed one year after the pre-survey period. The survey included questions designed to gauge resident attitudes, practice and knowledge of advocacy issues. The survey instrument was developed from work done at Johns Hopkins and Children’s National Medical Center to evaluate the efficacy of an advocacy code card. Analysis is descriptive.
Summary of Results: Of 45 residents, 58% (n=26) responded to the pre-survey. See table for selected responses. 85% of respondents agreed lack of training, lack of time and poor awareness of available resources were barriers to advocacy.
Conclusions: The results of this study identify knowledge gaps and a discrepancy between pediatric residents’ desire verses perceived ability to be child advocates. This study highlights the need for an advocacy curriculum throughout residency training.
| ATTITUDES | % AGREE | | Advocacy issues impact the health of patients | 84% | | I feel comfortable raising and discussing advocacy issues with families | 19% | | I am knowledgeable in local advocacy resources for families | 8% | | Healthcare policies impact the health of children | 92% | | I can effectively advocate to change healthcare policies | 31% | | PRACTICE | %YES | | In the past 6 months, wrote a letter in support of a family on an advocacy issue | 23% | | Referred a family to another professional, such as a social worker or lawyer, to discuss an advocacy issue | 77% | | KNOWLEDGE | % CORRECT | | Early Intervention services are authorized under which legislation? | 32% | | Individualized Education Plans must be reviewed how often? | 56% | | How often must children be re-evaluated to determine if he/she continues to need special education services? | 4% |
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