Funding outcome

Title: Experiential Learning for General Pediatrics and Endocrinology Residents through Immersive Participation in a Pediatric Diabetes Camp: A Qualitative Descriptive Analysis Authors: Elena Mitevska, MDa, Marghalara Rashida, PhD, Chelsey Grimbly, MDa,b, Elizabeth Rosolowsky, MD, MPHa,b Affiliations: aDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Alberta b Women and Children's Health Research Institute Disclosures: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose. Introduction: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) is a common chronic medical condition, and physicians should have a comprehensive understanding of diagnosis and management. However, medical education exposure occurs primarily in the inpatient setting when patients present acutely unwell. As a result, many pediatrics residents are not exposed to the chronic nature of T1D and both pediatrics and endocrinology residents can have minimal hands-on experience with the daily tasks required in management. Residents can volunteer as medical staff at diabetes summer camps, supervising the day-to-day medical needs of children while gaining experiential learning in T1D. Several studies have reported the educational benefits of camps for pharmacy, medical and nursing students, but there have been no studies exploring the benefits of participating in diabetes camps for residents. Objectives: Our objective is to evaluate the learning experience of diabetes camp for general pediatrics and endocrinology subspecialty residents and how camp contributes to attaining CanMEDS competencies. Methods: We used purposive sampling to recruit residents who participated in diabetes summer camp in Alberta, each managing daily diabetes care for a group of approximately 10 children. Residents participated in 30-to-60-minute semi-structured interviews that were thematically analyzed by the research team. Results: Fifteen residents participated in the study. Residents valued the hands-on learning and feedback in daily diabetes management and insulin administration, better understanding of the lived experience of children with T1D as well as the strong multidisciplinary collaboration. Residents reflected on the lack of traditional medical hierarchy at camp, highlighting that camp created a unique and ideal learning environment and allowed them to develop multiple CanMEDS competencies including collaboration, communication, advocacy, leadership and professionalism skills. We found four main themes: (1) the experiential learning of camp, (2) compassion for individuals with chronic illness, (3) a psychologically safe learning environment and (4) the importance of teamwork and twelve subthemes. Conclusions: Participating in diabetes camp is a valuable learning experience for general pediatric and endocrinology subspeciality residents to address a gap in their training. Residents reported gaining valuable skills in practical T1D management, building empathy and developing collaboration skills in a supportive multidisciplinary team and participation at camp should be offered by pediatrics and endocrinology training programs.