Historical Overview

The Residency Review Committee (RRC) for Pediatrics of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education issued revised program requirements for training in pediatrics in 1996. The new requirements called for more experience in outpatient primary care office settings and training in "...aspects of physical and emotional growth and development..." In addition, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau's (MCHB) Bright Futures Guidelines were published in 1994. They place an increased emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention, and the need for early recognition of growth and development problems by all child health clinicians. New educational materials were required to help meet these needs.

The founders of this project theorized that a learner-centered case-based approach would be ideal for purposes of curriculum development. With support from the Genentech Foundation and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, over 25 case-based educational modules were written, pilot-tested, and evaluated. Each module consists of a case abstract, statement of goals and objectives, a facilitator's guide to leading the discussion, a 2-3 part case narrative, annotated bibliography, teaching handouts, and evaluation forms. The materials have been tested in numerous pediatric training programs and highly rated.

The Pedicases web site was partially supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau through grant number 6T71 MC 00009-09-S1-R0.