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Humanism and professionalism education for pediatric hematology‐oncology fellows: A model for pediatric subspecialty training
Author(s) -
Kesselheim Jennifer C.,
Atlas Mark,
Adams Denise,
Aygun Banu,
Barfield Ray,
Eisenman Kristen,
Fulbright Joy,
Garvey Katharine,
Kersun Leslie,
Nageswara Rao Amulya,
Reilly Anne,
Sharma Mukta,
Shereck Evan,
Wang Michael,
Watt Tanya,
Leavey Patrick
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
pediatric blood and cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.116
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1545-5017
pISSN - 1545-5009
DOI - 10.1002/pbc.25253
Subject(s) - subspecialty , curriculum , medicine , humanism , medical education , pediatric oncology , oncology , family medicine , psychology , pedagogy , cancer , political science , law
Background Humanism and professionalism are virtues intrinsic to the practice of medicine, for which we lack a standard, evidence‐based approach for teaching and evaluation. Pediatric hematology‐oncology (PHO) fellowship training brings new and significant stressors, making it an attractive setting for innovation in humanism and professionalism training. Procedure We electronically surveyed a national sample of PHO fellows to identify fellows' educational needs in humanism and professionalism. Next, we developed a case‐based, faculty‐facilitated discussion curriculum to teach this content within pilot fellowship programs. We assessed whether fellowships would decide to offer the curriculum, feasibility of administering the curriculum, and satisfaction of fellow and faculty participants. Results Surveys were completed by 187 fellows (35%). A minority (29%) reported that their training program offers a formal curriculum in humanism and/or professionalism. A majority desires more formal teaching on balancing clinical practice and research (85%), coping with death/dying (85%), bereavement (78%), balancing work and personal life (75%), navigating challenging relationships with patients (74%), and depression/burn out (71%). These six topics were condensed into four case‐based modules, which proved feasible to deliver at all pilot sites. Ten fellowship programs agreed to administer the novel curriculum. The majority (90%) of responding fellows and faculty reported the sessions touched on issues important for training, stimulated reflective communication, and were valuable. Conclusions Pediatric hematology‐oncology fellows identify numerous gaps in their training related to humanism and professionalism. This curriculum offers an opportunity to systematically address these educational needs and can serve as a model for wider implementation. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2015;62:335–340. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.