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. 2024 Jan 30:20:11380.
doi: 10.15766/mep_2374-8265.11380. eCollection 2024.

Caring for Children With Medical Complexity: A Clinical, Patient-Focused Curriculum

Brittany Lattanza  1 , Divya Lakhaney  2 , Theresa Scott  3 , Ashley Croker-Benn  4 , Mirna Giordano  5 , Sumeet L Banker  5
Affiliations

Caring for Children With Medical Complexity: A Clinical, Patient-Focused Curriculum

Brittany Lattanza et al. MedEdPORTAL. .

Abstract

Introduction: Caring for children with medical complexity (CMC) requires specialized knowledge and skills. However, no standardized curricula are used across training programs as institutions have varying needs and resources.

Methods: We created a patient-focused, interactive curriculum for two CMC topics: feeding/nutrition and pain/irritability. We integrated the 45-minute sessions into morning protected patient-care time on an inpatient pediatric team at an urban tertiary care hospital. Targeted toward all pediatric residents and medical students rotating in inpatient pediatrics over a 12-month period, the sessions used a mix of didactic, discussion, and hands-on activities. Learners on one of two inpatient teams received the curriculum, while those on the other received a curriculum unrelated to CMC and served as a control group. Both groups completed retrospective pre/post self-assessments to evaluate self-efficacy with respect to the learning objectives.

Results: Over the 12-month period, 72 surveys were completed for the feeding/nutrition session, 78 surveys for the pain/irritability session, and 42 control surveys. The intervention group saw the greatest increase in self-efficacy scores generally in the feeding/nutrition session. All eight learning objectives saw significant improvement in self-efficacy scores for the intervention group. There was significantly greater improvement in self-efficacy for the intervention group compared to the control for all eight learning objectives.

Discussion: Through this patient-focused curriculum, learners had improved self-efficacy scores compared to the natural learning occurring on the inpatient service. The curriculum could be adapted to fit the needs of other institutions and provides a practical, hands-on approach to learning about caring for CMC.

Keywords: Clinical Teaching/Bedside Teaching; Complex Care; Curriculum Development; Editor's Choice; Pediatrics.

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