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Domain 1

Changing the Educational Paradigm, with Impact on Attracting Trainees into Pediatrics and Undersubscribed Pediatric Subspecialties

Lead

Rebecca Blankenburg, MD, MPH
President, Association of Pediatric Program Directors (APPD)
Associate Chair of Education, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford School of Medicine

Topic Areas

a. Advocacy: Engage our regulatory agencies (ACGME and LCME) in order to drive change in our educational requirements.
b. Curricula: Explore opportunities to redesign our UME and GME learning environments to better position pediatrics as an attractive discipline for trainees, including adopting best practices from allopathic and osteopathic medical schools that have had high pediatric matching rates, creating “fast track” programs that allow for more focused training pathways, and re-examining existing residency program components (length of training, flexibility of inpatient and outpatient training, clinical rotations in subspecialties). Incorporate novel training experiences that better prepares trainees for the patients of today and the future.
c. Subspecialty Exposure: Explore approaches to increase subspecialty exposure early in training (especially in undersubscribed subspecialties), e.g. via models for sharing subspecialty experiences across training programs at different institutions and via increasing interactions between residents and subspecialty fellows.
d. Positive Role Modeling: Develop innovative approaches to enhancing engagement between faculty and trainees by celebrating unique aspects of careers in pediatrics, including science, clinical care (including a broader exposure to clinical activities in a given subspecialty, e.g. outpatient plus inpatient experiences), advocacy, and administration.

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