Needs Assessment for Resident Education Within the Collaboration for Vaccine Education and Research (CoVER)

BACKGROUND: Vaccine education is critical, but little data exist on how residents are taught about vaccines during residency training. METHODS: To determine the need for and structure of an evidenced-based educational curriculum on vaccines for pediatric and family medicine residents, the Collaboration for Vaccination Education and Research (CoVER) team surveyed residents and program directors (PDs) from 9 academic institutions across the US. The brief online survey included questions on 1) perceived vaccine importance and familiarity, 2) comfort level with communicating with patients and parents, 3) preferred vaccine educational content, 4) preferred modality for training, and 5) demographics. Results were analyzed categorically using SAS. Fisher’s Exact chi-square test was used to determine statistical significance. RESULTS: In October 2016, 126 residents (response rate 14%) and 11 PDs (response rate 92%) from a convenience sample of pediatric and family medicine programs completed the online survey. Residents’ training levels varied (51 PL1, 31 PL2, 38 PL3, 3 PL4 and 3 unknown). Most respondents were female (69%) and aged 25–29 years (76%). The proportion of residents reporting high familiarity with vaccines and reporting not giving a recommended vaccine increased with each additional year of training (P < 0.01). The proportion of residents rating specific vaccines as “highly important” ranged from >99% for MMR and Hib to 61% for influenza and 68% for HPV. Year of training was positively correlated with professed need to learn more about vaccine benefits (NS, Fig1), yet resident confidence in answering vaccine questions increased by year of training (NS, Fig2). The most frequently preferred modalities for training include in-person lectures (66%), online modules (60%) and continuity clinic didactics (56%) (Fig3). PDs also agreed further vaccine education would be valuable and selected comparable preferred training modalities. CONCLUSION: Vaccine familiarity and confidence varied depending on the resident year, suggesting that vaccine training early in residency may be beneficial. Results provided insight to determine the framework and scope of content for a vaccine education curriculum that is being developed by the authors. DISCLOSURES: S. E. Williams, pfizer fund: Grant Investigator, Independent Grant funding of this medical education curriculum development to teach residents about vaccines; S. Humiston, Pfizer Foundation: Investigator, Grant recipient and Research grant; D. Middleton, Pfizer: Scientific Advisor, Grant recipient and honorarium; sanofi pasteur: Scientific Advisor, honorarium; GlaxoSmithKline: Scientific Advisor, honorarium; Merck: Scientific Advisor, honorarium