Pediatricians’ global health preparedness, attitudes, and priorities: Results from a national survey, 2017

Chan, Kevin²; Sisk, Blake¹; Yun, Katherine³

Presented at the 2018 Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting.

Institutions:

1. Research, American Academy of Pediatrics, Itasca, IL, United
2. Pediatrics, Memorial University, St. John's, NF,
3. PolicyLab, General Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, United

Background: Global health is an increasingly important area of pediatrics, but little is known about pediatricians’ views.

Objective: To examine pediatricians’ global child health preparedness and priorities, perceived barriers, and motivating factors related to global health service.

Design/Methods: Data from a nationally representative survey of American Academy of Pediatrics U.S. members in 2017 (n=570; response rate=45%). Survey collected information on self-rated preparedness to care for children in low or middle-income countries, prioritization of global health issues, barriers to and motivating factors for global health service, respondent interest, experience, and training in global health, and demographics. Descriptive results are presented and the statistical significance of group differences are assessed with t-tests.

Results: Nearly half of pediatricians (49%) reported feeling prepared to care for children in low- or middle- income countries, with 13% “very” prepared and 36% “moderately” prepared (Figure 1). Results from t- tests indicated that preparedness levels were higher among respondents who were proficient in a foreign language, attended medical school abroad, had interest in global health service, or received formal global health training in residency (p<.001).

Among those interested in global health service (n=316), the most commonly reported barriers to serving overseas (Figure 2) included work or family obligations (92%) and financial constraints (61%). The most commonly reported motivating factors to global health service were improving child health (99%) and a commitment to human rights (89%). Pediatricians were more likely to indicate that issues like immunizations (91%) and infectious disease (84%) should be “high priority” issues for pediatricians to improve global child health, and were less likely to prioritize topics like economic development (32%) and non-communicable conditions (30%).

Conclusion(s): While roughly half of pediatricians reported feeling prepared to care for children in global health settings, preparedness was highest among those with foreign language proficiency, international medical school training, and training or interest in global health. Though there was broad agreement among pediatricians on the motivating factors for global health service and the global health issues that should be high priority for pediatricians, respondents also indicated there are a wide range of barriers to global health service.