511 - Prioritizing and Polishing Advocacy Curriculums in Clinical Training Programs: A longitudinal curriculum design to enhance resident advocacy education

Poster Number: 511
Publication Number: 511.423

Andrea Lauffer, Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, HURRICANE, WV, United States; Ayesha Liaqat, Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Huntington, WV, United States; Maggie Blackwood, Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Scott Depot, WV, United States; Deborah L. Preston, Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Huntington, WV, United States

Background: In 2021, our residency program was awarded the advocacy training grant through the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Community Pediatrics Training Initiative. With this grant, we created an original longitudinal advocacy curriculum to enhance resident education in advocacy. The curriculum concluded with an institution wide grand rounds conducted by pediatric faculty and residents inviting all providers caring for children locally to learn more about child health advocacy. Each educational segment concentrated on a single aspect of advocacy (community resources, media, legislation).

Objective: To assess if a new innovative curriculum teaching the use of various facets of advocacy would enhance the knowledge of child health advocacy to our residents and faculty within our healthcare institution.

Design/Methods: A pre-curriculum survey was given to the residents to assess their advocacy skills and knowledge. During the curriculum, anonymous surveys were administered to the residents to see if the focused workshops enhanced their advocacy skills in each area of concentration. Similarly, a survey was administered to all participants of the advocacy grand rounds to assess the relevancy of the event to their practice. All survey answers were formatted on a Likert scale. 

Results: All residents felt advocacy was an important part of their role as a pediatrician prior to the implementation of the curriculum. Poor survey participation in the community resources workshop did not allow meaningful data collection. However, surveys on the media and legislative workshops showed an increase in resident confidence in advocacy skills. With the skills learned in the workshops, residents successfully helped conduct an institution wide grand rounds on expanding child health advocacy knowledge to pediatricians and non-pediatricians. The grand rounds survey results revealed enhanced confidence in child health advocacy amongst the participants. Using the skills they learned from the workshops, all categorical pediatric residents successfully completed an individualized advocacy project. 

Conclusion(s): Due to curriculum design and subsequent implementation, our residents are better prepared to utilize various components of advocacy to ensure that the health and wellbeing of children remain a priority for anyone caring for children, creating policies for children, or influencing short- and long-term circumstances that could affect a child’s ability and/or access to have a successful and meaningful life.