PM2008: A Novel Virtual Pediatric Residency Curriculum for Head Start Programs

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic presented a unique opportunity for pediatricians and pediatric residents to provide accurate and timely information virtually to support health and safety decisions for the Head Start (HS) community. This was particularly important given the known deficiencies in early childcare pandemic preparedness. Furthermore, it presented an opportunity for residents to engage in community advocacy experiences which had been halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We describe the impact of a novel virtual HS community advocacy curriculum on resident education during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We created a virtual HS community and advocacy curriculum involving 4 pediatric residency programs and 18 HS Centers in New York during the COVID-19 pandemic in August 2020. The virtual curriculum consisted of 1) a documentary (“No Small Matter”) on early childhood education, 2) a discussion with an early childhood expert, and/or 3) giving a COVID-19 presentation to HS parents or staff. This aimed to train pediatric residents to provide timely and accurate health information to the HS community during the pandemic. Residents completed participation surveys which included a self-assessment of their competency (ranging from novice to expert) , before and after participation; interest in community advocacy; and likelihood of recommending the program to other residents. Wilcoxon Signed-Rank tests were used to evaluate the change in self-reported expertise following participation in the Head Start virtual curriculum. Study was reviewed by the Northwell IRB .

Results: 18 pediatric residents responded to the survey (50% response rate), which included 5 PGY-1, 11 PGY-2, 1 PGY-3 and 1 PGY-5. Residents reported an increase in expertise in knowledge of HS and early education/childcare settings, an increase in expertise in discussing issues related to COVID-19 impacting early education and childcare settings, an increase in discussing issues related to COVID-19 impacting families and children, and an increase in self-reported expertise in community advocacy activities (all p< 0.05,Table 1). 13 residents felt their level of interest in community advocacy activities had slightly or strongly increased (Table 2). Most residents were likely to recommend virtual activities to other residents (Table 2).

Conclusion: This virtual HS community and advocacy curriculum was well-received by residents, whilst disseminating accurate and timely education to early childhood centers. This study was limited because of the small sample size. Further research should explore the impact of this virtual curriculum on the HS community, including on vaccine hesitancy/uptake. Lessons from this study can further inform the design of pediatric virtual residency community advocacy activities. Funded by the AAP NY Chapter 3 Early Childhood Education Collaboration Grant.