In an article being early released this week in Pediatrics, Dr. Megan Attridge and colleagues at Northwestern University delineated a case study evaluating a pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) fellowship advocacy curriculum developed using Kern and Thomas’s Six Step Model for Curriculum Development at a training program in a major metropolitan city (10.1542/peds.2024-067564).
Despite advocacy not being a formal PEM fellowship requirement, the authors correctly pointed out that fellows are literally on the front lines of addressing the manifestations of the biopsychosocial conditions that impact children’s lives—conditions that many children cannot control themselves.
Eight PEM fellows participated in this curriculum. They first learned about:
- composing opinion-editorials
- developing an advocacy portfolio
- health insurance and access to care
- interacting with the hospital’s government relations office
- partnering with like-minded professional organizations
- social media advocacy
- working with legislators
With the guidance of a faculty mentor, the fellows then completed three longitudinal advocacy projects:
- firearm injury prevention
- exposing children of underrepresented minority backgrounds to careers in healthcare science and technology
- COVID-19 immunization hesitancy
Prior to and following the completion of the advocacy project, participating fellows were asked to complete a survey to help identify needs, goals, and objectives. The fellows’ advocacy knowledge was also assessed; most were able to correctly identify their legislative representatives, but fewer knew their hospital media relations contact. Fellows preferred working on longitudinal projects over working on a group project and wanted to explore the possibility of participating in an “advocacy action day.”
Major limitations of this study correctly identified by the authors were the limited number (8) of participants and the potentially limited applicability of this specific curriculum in other geographic locations.
This contribution is a reminder that pediatricians are called to do more than screen, diagnose, and treat illnesses. When feasible, we should attempt to address the preventable causes of the illnesses faced by our patients, and this often involves advocacy. In so doing, we can care for the whole child.
