| The full title of this course is ¿Pediatricians as Child Advocates, Educators, and Societal Leaders.¿ This advanced/specialized elective is intended (only) for 4th year medical students who have committed to a future in Pediatrics, and to be taken not long before they commence their formal pediatrics residencies. Pediatricians are not merely clinicians providing health care to young patients, but should play much larger roles.
As child health specialists, they will be expected to effectively educate not only their patients and their families, but other medical colleagues and the public at large about important pediatric health issues. They should endeavor to understand the social determinants which underlie disparities in child health, and advocate to improve them. As senior trainees, and especially if they ultimately pursue careers in academic medicine, they will be the key educators on broad child health topics (clinical, research, and other) to future health-care providers. Within a society, pediatricians should be abreast, and arguably active, in all spheres that affect child health, including (for example) governmental policy on medical insurance, schools,
and social services.
Elective Students will interact with diverse academic, clinical, and community contributors to Child Health, including UB Clinical Faculty and Jacobs School Educational Leaders, Nursing Leaders, Pediatrics Residents of different stages, MS3 Pediatric Clerkship Students, Patients and their families, and Community Members involved with Child Health Advocacy.
The course will be for 4 weeks, offered once per calendar year, and will ideally have between two to six students. Course activities will include regular in-person discussion groups, typically facilitated by UB medical, public, and interprofesssional health-care faculty, but also the students themselves. The bulk of course content will be readings and other sources - Ted Talks, Podcasts, etc. ¿ delineated by the course instructors; individual students will also be expected to define (select) course content and activities based on their interests. |
