Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Medical students feel poorly prepared to examine pediatric patients during clerkship. Our institution's introduction to clinical skills course lacked practice with pediatrics physical examination skills. We developed a novel clinical skills curriculum to increase students' confidence in examining pediatric patients. METHODS: Ericsson's deliberate practice conceptual framework guided curriculum design. We utilized a flipped-classroom model to teach the newborn examination. Students watched a video, then practiced with manikins and patients. For the child examination, students attended a lecture and practiced with hospitalized children and facilitators. Students then participated in a Home, Education, Eating/Exercise, Activities/Employment, Drugs, Suicidality, Sexuality, Safety (HEEADSSS) didactic and role play activity. Before and after participation, students completed REDCap surveys ranking confidence in performing pediatric examinations and identifying normal examination findings on a Likert scale (1 = "Not at all confident," 4 = "Extremely confident"). We analyzed data using Wilcoxon rank sum tests. RESULTS: A total of 97 students participated in the curriculum. Respectively, 56 (58%) and 32 (30%) students completed pre- and post-participation surveys. Post-participation, students reported increased confidence in identifying normal infant (median [interquartile range]; (2 [2,2] vs 4 [3,4]; p < 0.001) and child (2 [2,2] vs 3 [3,4]; p < 0.001) examination findings as well as HEEADSSS assessment components (2 [1.5,2] vs 4 [3,4]; p < 0.001), and had significantly higher scores on confidence performing infant (2 [2,2.5] vs 4 [3,4]; p < 0.001), child (2 [2,2] vs 3 [3,4]; p < 0.001), and HEEADSSS assessment (2 [2,3] vs 4 [3,4]; p < 0.001). DISCUSSION: This multi-modal curriculum emphasizing pediatric examination skills improved students' confidence in pediatric-specific knowledge and skills prior to clerkship. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-024-02191-w.