scholarly journals The paediatric developmental toolkit: Facilitating learning of child development

Author(s):  
Elizabeth Young ◽  
Thivia Jegathesan ◽  
Hyeji Park ◽  
Mohammad Samad Zubairi

Abstract Background Recent paediatric and family medicine graduates report feeling unprepared to identify and address children and youth with developmental disorders. Developmental history taking and physical examination alone limit engagement with children and youth in an interactive manner to assess development. The paediatric developmental toolkit (PDT) was developed to provide trainees with the opportunity to interact with a child in a play-based manner. Objectives The primary objective of this study was to determine the feasibility of PDT within clinical settings, and qualitatively explore how the PDT can be used by teachers and trainees. Methods Trainees and their clinical teachers participated in a qualitative study. Trainees used the PDT in clinical settings and were interviewed following their clinical encounters. Interactions between clinical teachers and trainees following the use of the PDT were also recorded. Teachers were interviewed following the trainees’ case presentations and closures of clinic visits. Trainee interviews, teacher and trainee interactions, and teacher interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed thematically. Results Nine trainees (six paediatric residents, two family medicine residents, and one clinical clerk medical student) and four developmental paediatricians participated in the study. Each trainee used the PDT twice in two different clinical encounters. All residents agreed the PDT enabled them to observe a child’s developmental skills in a short period of time. Clinical teachers all felt the toolkit allowed trainees to more holistically consider a child’s development and diagnosis. Conclusions As medical education shifts to a competency-based education curriculum, the PDT is an innovative tool that can be used to enhance paediatric and family medicine residents’ learning of child development by enabling opportunities for interaction with children.

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (suppl_1) ◽  
pp. e48-e48
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Young ◽  
Thivia Jegathesan ◽  
Stella Ng ◽  
Maria Mylopoulos ◽  
Ripudaman S Minhas ◽  
...  

Abstract BACKGROUND Learning child development is complex. Recent paediatric and family medicine graduates reported feeling unprepared to identify and manage children with developmental and behavioural concerns (Comley et al 2008). As part of current developmental education at our centre, residents are trained to assess child development by integrating their pre-rotation knowledge about development with parental report and a general physical examination. This approach lacks hands-on training required to understand and learn the complexities of child development. To address this gap, our study team created the “Developmental Toolkit (Toolkit),” a non-standardized developmental teaching tool comprising specific toys and activities. OBJECTIVES The primary objective of this study was to explore how the toolkit may influence the teaching and learning of child development. Through the lens of reflective practice, this study sought to also explore residents’ learning of development in the context of a play-based toolkit. DESIGN/METHODS Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, paediatric and family medicine residents from two academic centres were interviewed after they used the toolkit as part of their interactions. Physician supervisors were also interviewed to determine the use of the toolkit as a teaching tool. RESULTS We recruited 10 residents to ensure saturation of data. Residents felt positively about their experience with the toolkit and its ease of use. They all agreed the toolkit enabled them to assess a child’s developmental skills in a short period of time. One paediatric resident found it “really useful; it was a more objective way for me to see what skills and milestones they [the child] were at. I think it was quite useful to correlate it with what mom was saying.” The residents’ supervisors all felt the toolkit allowed residents to more critically consider a child’s development and diagnosis in the context of the child’s environment. Furthermore, through the lens of reflective practice,the use of the toolkit revealed additional competencies in child development. These included: 1) maintaining a positive mood with the child; 2) getting a sense of the parent’s mood; 3) identifying when a child may have reached their limits during an interaction; and 4) critiquing previous assumptions about child development. CONCLUSION The toolkit is an innovative tool that may enhance paediatric and family medicine residents’ understanding of child development by enabling hands-on interactions and observations with children. Further exploration of how the toolkit may be enabling reflective practice and its implications on adaptive expertise need to be explored.


Author(s):  
François Aubry ◽  
Yves Couturier ◽  
Serge Dumont

ABSTRACTThis paper deals with the lack of interest shown by family medicine residents in Quebec (Canada) in home follow-up or monitoring of the elderly. By collecting and analyzing data from sixteen family medicine residents before and after their first experience of home follow-up, and from four medical supervisors, we found that residents experience a rapid loss of interest in this practice over a very short period. We show that this lack of interest stems first from the difficulty of applying the principle of patient-centered care, wherein medical interventions must meet the needs of the elderly in their entirety. Secondly, residents complain that they have to deal with many administrative tasks. They call for implementation of professional features to better integrate services such as case management.


PRiMER ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janelle Sloychuk ◽  
Olga Szafran ◽  
Kimberley Duerksen ◽  
Oksana Babenko

Introduction: In medical practice, a mastery mindset is important for engaging in lifelong learning. The objective of this study was to examine the association between family medicine residents’ scores on mindset measures and their performance on in-training examinations (ITE). Methods: This was a secondary data analysis of a cohort of family medicine residents. Following ethics approval, residents’ ITE scores from each of the 2 years of residency were linked with residents’ responses to a mindsets survey that they had taken at the midpoint of residency training. Multiple regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between residents’ mindset scores and their ITE scores. Of 85 residents, 46 (54%) had complete data for the three data collection points. Results: Residents’ ITE scores in year 1 were most predictive of their ITE scores in year 2 (β=0.72; P<.001). Mastery mindset scores were negatively associated with residents’ performance on the ITE in year 2 (β=-0.29; P=.004). Conclusion: While the observed negative relationship between residents’ mastery mindset scores and their ITE performance may be disconcerting, it is not surprising. In clinical settings, residents are individually coached by preceptors and provided with specific, actionable feedback to support their learning. With respect to formative assessments, residents likely require explicit training on how to use their assessment results (ITE scores) to support their self-directed learning. This finding has practical implications for residency programs in using ITEs as formative assessments.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiangbo Ying ◽  
Jinhui Wan ◽  
Kang Sim ◽  
Ee-Jin Darren Seah ◽  
Mythily Subramaniam

Abstract Background Psychiatry and Family Medicine residents frequently see patients with comorbid mental and physical disorders. Little is known about the difference in knowledge of Psychiatry residents and Family Medicine residents regarding management of common conditions they encounter. This study aimed to assess the knowledge of Psychiatry and Family Medicine residents regarding medical management of schizophrenia, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia, as the findings could help to refine the training curriculum for residency training. Methods A cross-sectional survey design was used. Psychiatry and Family Medicine residents pursuing their residency in Singapore were recruited from November 2019 to June 2020. The survey questionnaire consisted of questions which assessed the knowledge regarding medical management of schizophrenia, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the demographic data; T-tests or Mann-Whitney U tests to compare the differences between groups; and multiple regression analyses to assess the factors associated with Psychiatry residents’ knowledge of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia. Results Fifty-seven out of 70 (81.4%) Psychiatry residents and 58 out of 61 (95.1%) Family Medicine residents participated in the study. The majority of Psychiatry residents encountered patients with hypertension (93.0%), diabetes mellitus (87.7%) and dyslipidemia (91.2%) on a daily to weekly basis. Psychiatry residents had higher scores on questions about schizophrenia versus Family Medicine residents (mean 50.70 versus 43.28, p < 0.001). However, Psychiatry residents scored lower on questions about hypertension (mean 33.86 versus 40.98, p < 0.001), diabetes mellitus (mean 45.68 versus 49.79, p = 0.005) and dyslipidemia (mean 37.04 versus 44.31, p < 0.001). Receiving undergraduate medical education locally, compared to receiving it overseas, was associated with better knowledge of hypertension (beta = 0.515, p = 0.009) and dyslipidemia (beta = 0.559, p = 0.005); while younger age (26–30 versus > 35 and 31–35 versus > 35) was associated with better knowledge of hypertension (beta = 1.361, p = 0.002 and beta = 1.225, p = 0.003). A significant proportion of Psychiatry residents (61.4%) did not agree that the training provided to manage hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia was adequate. Similarly, majority of Family Medicine residents (62.1%) did not agree that they had adequate training to manage schizophrenia. Conclusions This study raises the awareness of Psychiatry residents’ sense of discomfort in managing hypertension, diabetes mellitus, or dyslipidemia and conversely Family Medicine residents in management of schizophrenia, which can be further addressed during the training postings within the residency programs. Future studies are needed to look at local (such as training curriculum) and systemic factors (such as practice trends and culture) in order to better align residency selection criteria and training foci with real world practice factors over time.


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