Emergency Medicine Resident Rotation in Pediatric Emergency Medicine: What Kind of Experience Are We Providing?

Objectives: To characterize emergency medicine (EM) residents' clinical experience during a pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) rotation.

Methods: Prospective observational study of EM resident-patient encounters in a children's hospital emergency department (ED).

Results: Fifty-six residents participated in the study. The mean (+/-SD) patient age was 6.3 (+/-5.6) years. Ambulatory infectious disease, respiratory illness, and wound management represented almost 50% of final diagnoses. Six and a half procedures/resident were performed per rotation, mainly nonemergent procedures, whereas resuscitations and child abuse evaluations were rare. A minority of patients required data interpretation: 34.4% had laboratory testing, 24.6% had radiographic studies, and 2.3% had electrocardiograms.

Conclusions: Analysis of patient encounters during a PEM rotation showed deficiencies in critical care procedures, resuscitations, child abuse evaluations, and neonatal evaluations. Quantitative data of skills utilized during rotations can be used by residency programs to identify and correct deficiencies in their residents' PEM education.