A Needs Assessment to Inform a Novel National Coaching Program for Pediatric Subspecialty Fellows

LAY SUMMARY Pediatric critical care and pulmonary fellows are pediatricians who have completed general pediatrics training (pediatrics residency) and who are learning to become experts in their given field, through more training. As they become experts in their chosen field, in addition to acquiring more knowledge and learning to do new procedures, fellows also experience increased pressure to do research and publish scientific papers. However, they do not always consistently receive the guidance, support and coaching they need to mature as medical specialists. Recently, medical schools and residency programs have adopted coaching programs, long used outside of medical training, to ensure that students and trainees receive continued support and personalized feedback as their training progresses for optimal professional growth. In this study, we aim to discover if pediatric critical care, pulmonary, and other subspecialty fellows and their program directors think that a coaching program would be helpful in fellows’ development as physicians, and if so, what they think should be the focus of this coaching. We also want to know about the most significant barriers to making the coaching program a success. We will do focus groups and surveys to gather this information. Our hypothesis is that fellows and program directors would identify a significant need for such programs with the focus being on professional growth and professional identity formation during this stage of advanced training. This study will be the basis for the design and implementation of future coaching programs with further study of the impact on fellows training, professional satisfaction, and burn out.