Hands-on training may help pediatric residents communicate better with families of medically complex children

by Wake Forest University School of Medicine

edited by Swati Mestri, reviewed by Andrew Zinin

Swati Mestri

Scientific Editor

Meet our editorial team
Behind our editorial process

Andrew Zinin

Chief Editor

Meet our editorial team
Behind our editorial process Editors' notes

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

fact-checked

trusted source

proofread

The GIST Add to Preferred Sources

New research from Advocate Health's Advocate Aurora Research Institute suggests that giving pediatric residents hands-on training with medical devices may help them communicate more effectively with the families of children frequently hospitalized in pediatric units.

For the study, published recently in Hospital Pediatrics, researchers developed a training program focused on five types of medical devices commonly used by hospitalized children with complex medical needs—central lines, chest tubes, feeding devices, tracheostomies and cerebrospinal fluid shunts.

Researchers not only looked at what residents learned from the training but also surveyed the caregivers of the pediatric patients on how well the doctors communicated.

"Children with medical complexity often have multiple chronic health conditions and may depend on medical equipment as part of their everyday care," said lead author Kelci Butler, assistant professor of pediatrics at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and pediatric hospitalist at Advocate Children's Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois.

"These patients often account for up to half of children admitted to tertiary care hospitals, yet pediatric residents—often among the first physicians to care for them—have reported feeling inadequately prepared for their needs.

"We wanted to bridge that gap by developing training that addresses this issue and in turn also helps the residents communicate with patients and their families," she added.

The curriculum included five one-hour, in-person workshops combining instruction with hands-on simulation. Physicians, advanced practice clinicians, nurses and respiratory therapists served as instructors, allowing residents to learn directly from clinicians with experience using the devices. Sessions were conducted in small groups of no more than 10 residents per instructor.

The curriculum was implemented for first-year pediatric residents at both the Oak Lawn and Park Ridge campuses of Advocate Children's Hospital in Illinois. All 28 first-year residents at the two sites elected to participate in the study. Researchers also included a historical comparison group of 11 residents who had not received the training.

Researchers then collected 253 caregiver surveys assessing how well residents communicated before and after the educational intervention and in the historical comparison group. They found the average communication score increased after the training, from 4.844 to 4.934 on a five-point scale.

Of the 14 categories evaluated, four showed significant increases. Caregivers gave residents higher marks for communicating in understandable terms, confirming that the family understood the information, encouraging questions and discussing next steps and follow-up plans.

The researchers also compared residents who completed the curriculum with the historical group who had not received the training. That analysis showed significant gains in several communication areas among residents exposed to the training, supporting the idea that the improvements may be associated with intentional skills training rather than simply gaining more experience during residency.

The findings are particularly relevant because knowing how to manage medical technology is only one piece of caring for medically complex children, Butler said. A physician also needs to be able to explain what is happening, make sure families understand the care plan, encourage questions and clearly discuss what happens next. The study suggests that targeted education around medical devices may help develop some of those communication skills.

Caregivers were directly involved in evaluating the residents through a modified 14-item Communication Assessment Tool. Researchers contacted caregivers during the child's hospitalization, and participation was voluntary. The researchers noted that obtaining feedback in real time provided a perspective on resident communication that can be difficult to capture through traditional medical education assessments.

"We value the family's perspective in all our patients' care, but especially for these medically complex children," Butler said.

Researchers say next steps would be to evaluate such training in other hospitals and with a larger sample size. And while this study focused on medical devices, researchers acknowledged it may be useful to look at how training affects resident knowledge and communication when caring for other medically complex patients.

Still, the researchers say the results underscore the potential value of involving patients and families more directly in training physicians. Future educational approaches could provide residents with more individualized caregiver feedback and potentially engage caregivers as educators who can help physicians better understand the practical challenges families face.

"Caregivers not only want highly trained physicians they can trust, but they also want someone who has empathy, involves them in discussions about their child's care and is skilled at communication," Butler said.

More information

Kelci Butler et al., Enhancing Care for Hospitalized Children With Medical Complexity via Targeted Education, Hospital Pediatrics (2026). DOI: 10.1542/hpeds.2026-009484

Clinical categories

PediatricsChildren's health Provided by Wake Forest University School of Medicine Who's behind this story?

Swati Mestri

Swati Mestri holds a bachelor's degree in Electronics Engineering and has worked as a content editor since 2019. She has experience editing research documents across technology, health care, and materials science, and has a particular interest in technology and space. Full profile →

Andrew Zinin

Master's in physics with research experience. Long-time science news enthusiast. Plays key role in Science X's editorial success. Full profile →

Citation: Hands-on training may help pediatric residents communicate better with families of medically complex children (2026, October 22) retrieved 22 October 2026 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-pediatric-residents-communicate-families-medically.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.