At the University of Vermont we encourage pediatric resident scholarship in three key areas: Advocacy, Research and Quality Improvement.
Advocacy
It is said that child advocacy is “in the DNA of pediatricians,” and at the University of Vermont we instill in our residents this key value. During the first year of training our residents spend one month on Advocacy, meeting with state leaders in our department of health, the Vermont Child Health Improvement Program (VCHIP), and the American Academy of Pediatrics Vermont Chapter. During this month our residents are instructed in the basics of health advocacy—how to testify to the legislature, give your “elevator speech” to a potential supporter, write op-ed pieces, and more. They then take an inspired idea and create a longitudinal advocacy project that is aimed at improving the health and welfare of the children in our community. Current advocacy initiatives promoted by our residents include: improving the continuity of care for children in foster care, review of pediatric ATV accident data, the formation of a School based health clinic at Winooski Elementary school, and the formation of focus groups to understand the male psychological phenotype to assist with adolescent depression, substance abuse and anxiety.
Recent advocacy projects that have become recipients of the American Academy of Pediatrics CATCH grants include:
“Secure Firearm Storage in Vermont,” Kelly Blanchet, PGY-3 2024
“Talking Gender in Primary Care,” Ben Kim, PGY-3, 2023
“The Male Mental Health Phenotype,” Nick Bonenfant, PGY-3, 2020
“Establishing a School Based Health Clinic: Winooski, VT,” Anna Zuckerman, PGY-3, 2018
Scholarly Half-Day
To encourage self-propelled scholarly activity, we have provided two scholarly half days during each elective block (avoiding clinical experiences) for residents to focus on one of seven (7) areas of concentration: Advocacy/Legislation, Rural Health, Global Health, Med Ed, DEI, Clinical/Translational research, and QI/Safety. During the first half of intern year we provide shared resources and curriculum in these concentrations for residents to explore, and in the second half of first year, an area of concentration is chosen. By the end of first year our goal is for each intern to map out a pathway to a scholarly deliverable (conference, poster, legislative action, etc.) that will be presented by the completion of residency. Every year we have residents present posters at regional and national conferences (AAP, PHM, PAS, and subspecialty conferences). Posters line our administrative hallway to showcase the scholarly work that residents are able to complete during their time in our program.
- Vermont Oxford Network - an international neonatal research collaborative.
- Vermont Child Health Improvement Program (VCHIP), which is a state wide quality improvement collaborative that now is at the hub of the National Improvement Program Network (NIPN)
- Improve Care Now, which is an international quality improvement collaborative for pediatric inflammatory bowel disease.
Quality Improvement
Our residents are also required to be involved in a longitudinal quality improvement initiative as part of their training. This is embedded in a population health curriculum, and the projects are organic and germane to UVM Children’s Hospital and align with institutional initiatives and goals. The residents work on these projects along with interdisciplinary teams, so it becomes a group endeavor and affords opportunity for team-based learning and building collaborative relationships with their fellow colleagues. Many of these projects have evolved into scholarly work that has been presented locally and regionally. Here are a few of our projects includes:
- "Talking Gender in Primary Care"
- "Bringing Mental Health to School"
- "Adaptive Clothing for Pediatric Inpatients"
- "Keeping Children Safe from Edibles: Lock Boxes"
- “The Mind Body Buddy Program”
- "Rectal Temperature Use with Febrile Infants in Emergency Department"
- “Improving Breastfeeding Success: Reducing Unnecessary Formula Supplementation in the Newborn Nursery”
- “Creation of Resident Panels to Improve Continuity in Resident Primary Care Clinic”
- “Creation and Implementation of an Asthma Pathway for ED and Inpatient Ward and Asthma Action Plan for Outpatient Clinic”
- “Reduction of Chest X-Ray in Bronchiolitis Patients”
- “Updating Pediatric Morning Report: Increasing Observed Quality and Perceived Educational Value among Faculty and Residents”
- “Food Insecurities Screening on Inpatient Ward”
- “Effectiveness of Healers Reflection as Part of Resident Wellness Curriculum”
- “Continuity Clinic Improvement of Continuity and Population Health Metrics”