O3277: Pediatrics Residents as Educators: A Reverse Mentoring Approach to Medical Education in Pediatrics

Background: The Liaison Committee on Medical Education recognizes the important role of resident participation in medical student education and requires programs to provide resources “to enhance residents’ and non-faculty instructors’ teaching and assessment skills.” This recognition has led to increased implementation of Resident as Educator curriculum, which provides necessary formal training to residents to enhance their teaching skills. However, a concept that has not been widely implemented is a reverse mentoring approach to medical education. At SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, a novel curriculum was developed by medical students with faculty and employs the student perspective in teaching residents how to become better role models and educators.

Methods: Participants in sessions included Pediatrics residents at our academic medical center. The session began with a pre-session survey to gain qualitative information about the residents' perspectives on role modeling. The session continued with a brief introductory presentation on role modeling principles followed by medical student-led small group discussions of specialty-specific clinical vignettes and subsequent entire group debrief of key takeaway points. The vignettes were written to focus on themes pertinent to Pediatrics including making medical students feel part of a team, demonstrating interpersonal respect with patients and colleagues in an interdisciplinary clinical environment, adolescent mental health, and LGBTQIA+ primary care. A post-session survey with 5 Likert scale questions and qualitative comments was administered to assess the efficacy of the session.

Results: A total of 56 residents participated in our Pediatrics Resident as Educator program. Pre-session survey responses indicated that Pediatrics residents have had substantial experiences with both good and bad role modeling in their medical training. The cumulative quantitative data from five Pediatrics Resident as Educator sessions indicates a positive response to this medical student-developed, led, and facilitated resident as educator curriculum. Of all participants, 86% agreed that the session was worth their time away from other responsibilities and 88% agreed that the session will impact how they navigate their future interactions with medical students and junior residents. Furthermore, 93% of all participants agreed that they are likely to implement teaching strategies discussed in the session and 88% recommended the continued participation of medical students in running this curriculum.

Conclusion: Pediatrics residents noted this novel curriculum taught them how to effectively balance teaching students with clinical responsibilities and allow them to become better educators. Pediatrics residents also highlighted that this session provided them with tools to effectively interact with co-residents, thus supporting an additional benefit of improving near-peer teaching among residents. A strength of this curriculum is that the Pediatrics specific clinical vignettes allow discussions to be more relatable and practical for participants. Future implementation of sessions will look to include additional topics specific to Pediatrics, such as social media use, sexual orientation, and parental management.