Decoding the Alphabet Soup of Washington: Empowering Pediatric Residents to Envision Themselves as Political Actors (Descriptive Abstract)

The ACGME mandates that pediatrics residencies provide curricula introducing the core principals of advocacy and community pediatrics. Few programs include specific training for residents seeking to understand their place in the governmental and the non-governmental agencies responsible for crafting healthcare policy. No data exist exploring pediatric residents’ understanding of civics as it pertains to the career of a pediatrician. This study aimed to assess pediatric residents’ attitudes toward and preparedness for civic engagement after residency training. We solicited and compared responses from all pediatric residents at our Children’s hospital during two general election cycles. Data were collected via electronic survey during the fall of 2012 and 2016. 92 residents responded to our survey in 2012; 96 responded in 2016. Few trainees reported confidence in their own understanding of the healthcare policy-making roles of legislative committees (21.2%), federal agencies (20.6%), and NGOs (17.5%), despite the majority (78.5%) reporting that they felt it was important for pediatricians to possess this understanding. In 2012, 36.9% of residents felt it was important for pediatricians to be actively engaged in the work of healthcare policy-making bodies, while in the 2016 election cycle, 78.2% felt similarly (p < 0.001). In 2012, 29.3% of residents anticipated spending at least 20% of their future career engaged in healthcare policy, while in 2016, that number increased to 59.4% (p < 0.001). In an uncertain political climate, pediatric trainees increasingly envision themselves as actors on the healthcare policy stage. While they consider it important for pediatricians to understand the details of healthcare-policy formation, residents report a significant lack of confidence in their own knowledge of the organizations that shape healthcare in the United States. These data highlight an opportunity for training programs across the country to enhance their curricula to prepare trainees for leadership in advocacy at the local and national levels.