Scoping Review of Pediatric Primary Care Educational Literature.

Abstract

Primary care pediatrics is an important element of pediatric training at all levels, yet trainees often lack clinical competence in this area. This scoping review sought to identify the current research available related to pediatric primary care education for medical students and residents and gaps/areas for improvement. Searches were completed on PubMed MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, and MedEdPORTAL using the search terms "pediatrics," "education," "curricula," and "primary care." An initial total of 6499 articles was screened down to 102 articles for the final full text review and extraction. The most frequently encountered educational subjects were child development and developmental screening (8.8%), adolescent substance use (7.8%), and vaccines/vaccine hesitancy (6.9%). Several subject areas were underrepresented, including pubertal assessment (0.9%), transgender medicine (0.9%), child passenger safety (0.9%), discipline (0.9%), and sports/orthopedic medicine (0%). This study shows that future pediatric primary care educational studies and innovations are needed to improve trainee competence and comfort.