P3.K207: Informing Residents on the Care of Newly Arrived Immigrant Children

Background: Pediatricians have long been on the frontline caring for newly arrived immigrant children who often present with complex medical and psychosocial needs. Studies demonstrate that physicians need more preparation to care for this population. To address this, we developed a pediatric immigrant health curriculum emphasizing biopsychosocial needs and assessed resident physicians' knowledge and confidence caring for newly arrived immigrant children after the curriculum.

Methods: In an academic hospital in the Bronx, NY, 85 residents (60 pediatric and 25 family medicine) participated in an IRB-approved pilot study of a pediatric immigrant health curriculum between 9/2023-2/2024. Curricular learning objectives included gaining knowledge of immigration policies, understanding current medical guidelines, addressing social and emotional needs, taking a migration history, advocating, and building community partnerships.

19 baseline pre-curricular questions included demographics, prior training, and experience in immigrant health (adapted from the AAP 2017 Periodic Survey), and 6 Likert-type questions evaluating confidence and knowledge about caring for newly arrived immigrant children. Post-curriculum evaluation repeated only the 6 Likert-type confidence/knowledge questions. Likert data was coded as not at all(1), slightly (2), moderately (3), and very (4). Pooled t-tests were used to compare pre-and post-curriculum data and for pre-curriculum sub-group analysis.

We evaluated: 1) If resident knowledge and confidence changed after the curriculum and 2) If prior training and clinical experience are correlated with pre-curriculum confidence and knowledge caring for newly arrived immigrant children.

Results: 40 residents, who each attended 1 of the 3 available sessions, completed pre- and post-curriculum surveys. Residents reported a statistically significant increase in perceived confidence and knowledge caring for newly arrived immigrant children (p < 0.0001). After the curriculum, 76% more residents felt moderately or very confident about their knowledge of available resources to care for recently arrived immigrant children (Table 1). Residents who reported global health training in refugee or immigrant health prior to curriculum reported more confidence caring for newly arrived immigrant children and families compared to residents who did not have prior training (p < 0.029) prior to the curricular session.

Conclusion: Our study shows that residents gained confidence and knowledge after a single session of an immigrant health curriculum emphasizing a biopsychosocial approach and introducing local community organizations. This curriculum, designed to address the complex needs of newly arrived immigrant children, could improve how we prepare residents for these challenges and ultimately improve clinical practice. The next steps include iterative curricular redesign in the residency and medical school programs and should consist of longer-term follow up to investigate retention of confidence and knowledge and clinical utilization.