Pubertal assessment: targeted educational intervention for pediatric trainees

Abstract

Abstract Background Timely and periodic pubertal assessment in children is vital to identify puberty related disorders. Pediatricians need to have working knowledge of puberty time and tempo. Pediatric residency is an important platform to acquire physical examination skills including pubertal assessment. Objective An educational intervention for teaching pubertal assessment was piloted on pediatric residents at our institution. Methods The intervention comprised of interactive lecture series, ID badge size Tanner stage cards and Tanner posters placed in residents’ continuity clinics. Pre-intervention, post-intervention and 3 months post-intervention surveys for participating trainees were administered to determine the effectiveness of the intervention. Attitudes, practices, knowledge scores, and barriers to Tanner staging conduct were analyzed. Results Forty-three residents participated in the intervention. Knowledge scores of PGY1 (5.95 ± 1.6 vs. 7.47 ± 1.4, p < 0.01) improved right after the intervention, as did self-reported clinical practices of all trainees 3 months post- intervention with regards to conducting external genital examination and performing pubertal assessment. Confidence levels of pediatric trainees in conducting pubertal assessment and comfort levels in assessing the need for endocrine referral based on abnormal Tanner staging improved after the intervention, although the effect was not statistically significant. Conclusion Our intervention is a worthwhile technique for teaching pubertal assessment to residents as it is simple to conduct, easily reproducible, provides baseline knowledge needed for recognition of normal pubertal development and puberty related conditions, and instills confidence in residents.