Pathways and Special Courses

Created to define advocacy and the pediatrician’s role in advocating for children at the individual, community, state and national level. Aims to increase confidence and comfort in engaging in advocacy activity by practicing advocacy skills. Shifts care from treating one patient at a time, to being part of a broader network that works systematically. Also covers the following:

• Current child health policies and future policies in Virginia
• Improve knowledge of legislation
• Sudden infant death syndrome, Child nutrition and Mental health
• Acquire skills in meeting your representative, art of negotiation, Op-ed writing
• Fitting advocacy into a busy residency schedule
• Speaking out on your patients’ behalf
• Assumes there is a problem that needs to be changed

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Developed under the leadership of Dr. Sriraman, two pathways were designed to gain a robust educational basis for counseling nursing mothers and promote breastfeeding among professionals and all groups. For more information, please see the Breastfeeding Curriculum.

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Adapted from the Academic Pediatric Association (APA) Task Force on Child Poverty, residents are trained to understand impact of poverty and other social determinants of health on child well-being over the life course and across generations. Courses include:

• Epidemiology of Child Poverty
• Social Determinants of Health
• The Biomedical Influences of Poverty
• Taking Action
• Medicaid

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Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University and CHKD provides an excellent environment for pursuing research and other scholarly activities. Residents are able to develop and initiate projects, both individually and in groups with faculty mentorship. The resources available to the residents span from IRB/IACUC compliance support, presentation financial travel support, to statistical analysis support via a Biostatistician. Projects may be presented at our annual Pediatric Research Day. Areas for research and discovery include:

• Basic science studies
• Translational projects
• Clinical research
• Global health projects
• Community health projects
• Clinical case reports and series
• Quality improvement projects
• Other endeavors of your choosing

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Developed by Dr. Parks-Savage, this program actively engage residents into their primary Clinical Learning Environment (CLE) by embedding them into the hospitals’ patient safety and quality improvement initiatives and processes. This in-Residency fellowship experience is designed to include the fellows’ feedback to the hospital patient safety leadership team and enrich the trainee’s learning experience related to Improvement Science. Residents in this track:

• Complete IHI Basic Certificate in Quality and Safety
• Gain direct faculty support in developing Quality Improvement Projects
• Regular project meetings with Co-Directors
• Present project

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With an entire division dedicated to community health, our Residents are able to design and evaluate programs to ensure the health and safety of kids and teens. These programs aim to promote community health and influence positive change. Target areas include:

• Substance use and drug policy
• Tobacco and air quality
• Vaping and youth
• Motor vehicle safety
• Obesity
• Global Health
• Maternal, infant and child health
• Health disparities

Moreover, the division empowers residents to participate in 3 local collaboratives aimed at sustaining community health:

• Consortium for Infant and Child Health (CINCH)
• Easter Shore Healthy Communities (ESHC)
• Minus 9 to 5

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Our LIFT leadership and professional development curricula equips residents to train to be effective leaders in medicine. Residents learn how to talk to patients, solve conflict, deliver bad news, manage tasks, handle emotions, and lead others. Moreover, residents receive career guidance and "how tos" for their individual focus areas (primary care, fellowship) including interviewing for a job, negotiating contracts, and effective communication.

We are currently in the process of developing a new approach to resident learning that implements modern technology and design utilizing feedback from current residents and educational specialists.  This includes web access to didactics, role playing, learning games, interactive videos, podcasts and animation.

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