SPORTS MEDICINE TRAINING DURING PEDIATRIC RESIDENCY

Objectives: To assess how sports medicine is taught within pediatric r esidency programs and to determine the level of comfort that pediatric graduates have in managing common sports injuries. Intervention: Inve stigator-prepared cross-sectional survey. Method: A survey questionnai re was mailed to 203 pediatric chief residents of pediatric residency programs in the United States. Measurements/Main Results: Seventy-thre e percent of the questionnaires were returned. Most pediatric chief re sidents (73%) reported that their program provided lectures on pediatr ic sports medicine topics, Lecture time devoted to sports medicine top ics was reported to be less than 6 hours for many residency programs ( 83%). Instruction on the medical criteria for exclusion from sports wa s provided to 64% of the chief residents. Of those residents who compl eted the survey, 55% reported that clinical sports medicine training w as available in their programs. Rotations in adolescent medicine (28%) , pediatric orthopedics (26%), and ambulatory pediatrics (9%) provided the bulk of clinical training. Clinical exposure to sports medicine w as reported to be less than 5 hours in a large number of programs (43% ). Most of the chief residents reported that they would refer six of e ight pediatric sports injuries for diagnosis and management. Conclusio ns: The pediatric chief residents who completed the survey received li mited didactic instruction or clinical training in sports medicine. Be cause pediatricians are primary care physicians for many children and adolescents who participate in sports, pediatric residency directors s hould consider integrating sports medicine instruction into their prog rams.