506 - Development and Implementation of a Novel Service-Learning Curriculum to Increase Social Accountability of a Pediatric Residency Program

Service-learning enhances a training program's social accountability- the responsiveness to population health needs through meaningful community engagement- and provides a lens to better understand health equity. Service-learning models connect the academic curriculum to community-based problem-solving and develops civic engagement skills and knowledge application while benefiting the community.

Objective:

To develop, implement, and evaluate a service-learning core curriculum for pediatric residents in order to improve community engagement and social accountability of our residency program and establish a model for service-learning in graduate medical education (GME).

Design/Methods:

We followed a social accountability framework to ensure that the curricular objectives and activities met the priority health needs of our community. We utilized a literature review, resident and community partner needs assessments, the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) content specifications, and Entrustable Professional Activity (EPA) #14 (Figure 1) to inform design and implementation of the curriculum.  

Results:

45 out of 117 pediatric residents (38%) completed the needs assessment survey (Figure 2). We partnered with a local, non-clinical, community-based organization (CBO) that serves children and families living with mental health issues through family support groups, school advocacy, support for youth involved in juvenile justice/foster care systems and programming to address intimate partner violence, self-care, nutrition counseling, substance abuse prevention, and homelessness.

With the CBO leadership, we developed structured learning objectives (Table 1).  A variety of educational methods were utilized including community-directed advocacy activities where PL2 residents serve as medical experts helping to facilitate groups at the CBO. This innovative curriculum has been integrated into residents’ schedules during a required advocacy rotation. Ongoing evaluation consists of mixed-methods pre- and post-assessments utilizing both quantitative and qualitative questions.

Conclusion(s):

We successfully implemented a novel service-learning curriculum as part of a core required rotation which provides residents with unique opportunities to accomplish the learning goals and integrates social accountability into the training program’s core educational offerings. Program evaluation and expansion are underway.