Fellow-led case-based curriculum to improve pediatric resident education in the neonatal intensive care unit

The objective of this study was to implement a novel, fellow-as-teacher curriculum for pediatric residents, built upon brief, case-based teaching in a level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). We added a novel, case-based educational curriculum focused on key fetal and neonatal medicine topics, built around pediatrics board review questions. Fellows facilitated case discussions using these questions. Participating residents completed summative knowledge (NICU Rotation Test) and experience (Education Evaluation Survey) assessments pre- and post-implementation of this curriculum. Eighty-three residents completed the NICU Rotation Test, 47 in the pre-curriculum group and 36 in the post-curriculum group. On the NICU Rotation Test, the median score did not differ between the pre- and post-curriculum groups. The post-curriculum Education Evaluation Surveys demonstrated significantly more positive responses than the pre-curriculum surveys. Residents reported improvement in the overall teaching during their rotation without interfering with patient care or being time intensive.