A Longitudinal View of Resident Education in Pediatric Emergency Interhospital Transport

OBJECTIVES:The focus was to examine the educational structure and curricular planning involved in current pediatric emergency interhospital transport teams that use resident physicians as members of the team and to compare these current results with the findings from 2 previous, similar surveys complete during the past 2 decades. METHODS:A 33-item questionnaire, assessing curricular components of the transport experience, was sent to a chief resident at all the officially listed nonmilitary pediatric residency program in contiguous United States. Comparisons were done for each similar item on all 3 questionnaires. RESULTS:After 3 rounds of mailing and telephone follow-up to nonresponders, the overall response rates for the 2006 and 1998 surveys were 81% (n = 156) and 89% (n = 173), respectively. A similar survey on a smaller sample, published in 1990, used for comparison, had a response rate of 99% (n = 75). When asked about training provided to residents before going on transport, respondents varied in the specific experiences and skills required of the residents. In addition, programs reported variation in team backup during the pediatric emergency transport. The most common method of evaluation for the resident on completion of the transport was "no specific method" as reported by 62% of respondents in 2006 compared with 50% in 1998 and 55% in 1990 (P = not significant). The percentage of programs providing informal verbal feedback was reduced significantly in 2006 as compared with that in 1998 (P = 0.011). CONCLUSIONS:The educational structure for residents serving in pediatric emergency interhospital transport teams remains variable, and the full educational value of pediatric transports continues to be somewhat unrealized particularly in the area of posttransport performance feedback and evaluation. Having medical command available has consistently been a strong point of the residents' experience on the transport team.