The Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry’s undergraduate medical education (UME) program is continually evolving. Over the past two years, Schulich has been transitioning the UME curriculum to a competency-based, active learning medical education (CBME) model. This shift to a CBME model has resulted in a re-focus on vertical integration (across years of the program) and horizontal integration (across the disciplines) and a re-focus on social accountability to the context of care in Southwestern Ontario. Much of this focus has been on year 1 and 2, which is dedicated to theoretical and classroom learning. Moving forward there is a shift to continue this re-focus into the upper years of the curriculum (year 3 and year 4). Year 3 of the UME curriculum is primarily comprised of Integrated Clerkship. During clerkship, students become an active member of clinical care teams across Southwestern Ontario in the following disciplines: family medicine, medicine, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, psychiatry, and surgery. During these clinical rotations of hand-on clinical experiences, students also have dedicated classroom time for case-based theoretical discussion. The paediatrics rotation of Integrated Clerkship is undergoing a re-design of their dedicated classroom portion of their curriculum. The theoretical classroom portion of the curriculum aims to address paediatric clinical scenarios that are common within Southwestern Ontario by both family physicians and paediatric physicians, but that may not necessarily be seen during the hands-on clinical care focused portion of the rotation. However, the prevalence of common paediatric conditions seen in primary care settings throughout Southwestern Ontario is currently unknown.

Thus, the purpose of this project is to determine the most common paediatric conditions seen in Southwestern Ontario to integrate family medicine and paediatric disciplines and emphasize the Southwestern Ontario context of care. More specifically, the successful candidate will:

1. Develop a survey in collaboration with a team of paediatricians that will allow primary care physicians who see paediatric cases in Southwestern Ontario to rank the prevalence of paediatric conditions seen in their primary care setting.

2. Distribute the survey to family physicians and paediatricians practicing in Southwestern Ontario.

3. Analyze the data to determine the most prevalent paediatric conditions seen in primary care settings in Southwestern Ontario to advise the Paediatric Clerkship Rotation Directors on where to focus their theoretical classroom teaching.