An Interactive, Multimodal Curriculum to Teach Pediatric Cardiology to House Staff.

Pediatricians must be able to diagnose, triage, and manage infants and children with congenital heart disease. The pediatric cardiology division at the Medical University of South Carolina updated their curriculum for pediatric residents to a format supported by constructivist learning theory. The purpose of this study is to determine if shorter, interactive learning with fellow and faculty involvement improved pediatric cardiology knowledge demonstrated through test scores and resident satisfaction. A curriculum of short lectures and interactive workshops was delivered over 6 weeks in August and September 2018. Residents answered a 10-question pretest prior to the curriculum, followed by a post-test immediately after the last session and a delayed post-test 8 months later. Residents also provided summative feedback on the educational sessions. Sixty-six residents were eligible to participate in the curriculum with 44 (67%) completing the pretest, 40 (61%) completing the post-test, and 33 (50%) completing the delayed post-test. The mean score increased significantly from 56 to 68% between the pretest and post-test (p = 0.0018). The delayed post-test mean score remained high at 71% without significant change (p = 0.46). Overall feedback was positive highlighting the interactive nature of lectures and the participation of cardiology fellows. Using an interactive, multimodal educational series, pediatric residents had a significant increase in pediatric cardiology test scores and demonstrated good retention.

Impact of COVID-19 on Pediatric Gastroenterology Fellow Training in North America.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed healthcare systems and training around the world. The Training Committee of the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition sought to understand how COVID-19 has affected pediatric gastroenterology fellowship training. METHODS: A 21 question survey was distributed to all 77 pediatric gastroenterology fellowship program directors (PDs) in the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition program director database via email on April 7. Responses collected through April 19, 2020 were analyzed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Fifty-one of 77 (66%) PDs from the United States, Canada, and Mexico responded to the survey. Forty-six of 51 (90%) PDs reported that they were under a "stay-at-home" order for a median of 4 weeks at the time of the survey. Two of the 51 (4%) programs had fellows participating in outpatient telehealth before COVID-19 and 39 of 51 (76%) at the time of the survey. Fellows stopped participating in outpatient clinics in 22 of 51 (43%) programs and endoscopy in 26 of 51 (52%) programs. Changes to inpatient care included reduced fellow staffing, limiting who entered patient rooms, and rounding remotely. Fellows in 3 New York programs were deployed to adult medicine units. Didactics were moved to virtual conferences in 47 of 51 (94%) programs, and fellows used various online resources. Clinical research and, disproportionately, bench research were restricted. CONCLUSIONS: This report provides early information of the impact of COVID-19 on pediatric fellowship training. Rapid adoption of telehealth and reduced clinical and research experiences were important changes. Survey information may spur communication and innovation to help educators adapt.

Growth in the High-Risk Newborn Infant Post-Discharge: Results from a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Nutrition Follow-up Clinic.

Growth and nutrition in preterm infants have long-term implications for neurodevelopmental and cardiometabolic outcomes. Many infants are discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) with growth restriction, but often without a specialized team to monitor postdischarge growth. At our institution, we addressed our ongoing concerns for the health and growth of these infants post-discharge by creating a Nutrition NICU Graduate Clinic. This clinic serves infants discharged from our NICU who were born with very low birth weight, had difficulty growing or feeding while inpatient, had a gastrostomy tube placed during hospitalization, or were deemed high risk for other reasons by our neonatal team, with the first clinic visit within 5 weeks of discharge. Data from our first 227 patients at time of discharge, first clinic visit, and any available second clinic visits are described. Anthropometrics show a high rate of extrauterine growth restriction at time of discharge with continued growth restriction at follow-up. Feeding regimens prescribed at discharge and variations from the prescribed regimen at time of follow-up are described. At time of first clinic visit, most patients (92.2%) required a medical or dietary intervention by our team. Our findings illustrate the need for early and specialized nutrition follow-up in this patient population to improve growth trajectory post-discharge.