University of Virginia Health System

RESIDENT ADVOCACY ELECTIVE

     This elective rotation allows a resident to focus in-depth on a chidren's health issue of his/her choice, with appropriate clinical and advocacy experiences tailored to facilitate a greater understanding of the issue chosen.  This elective will also increase resident community involvement, as well as training in various aspects and skills of child advocacy.  The month will culminate with a noon conference presentation by the resident on the children’s health issue they have pursued.  The possibilities are endless - rural health, access to care, immigrant/refugee health, oral health, public policy issues - just to name a few! 

     The elective may take many forms, and may include the development and implementation of a community project, a research project related to advocacy, pursuing a public health policy in depth, or other appropriate experiences. 

Activities and requirements for the rotation will include the following:

1.  The resident will attend one or more weekly clinics targeted towards a chosen advocacy population (e.g. refugee clinic, international adoption clinic, Charlottesville free clinic, renal specialty clinic, etc.)

2.  The resident and preceptor will arrange a different “shadowing” experience each week in order to broaden their exposure to the different components of an advocacy issue (e.g. the International Rescue Committee, adoption agencies, school nurses, social case workers, administrators/attorneys who deal with relevant legal and policy issues, school liaisons, dialysis nurses, etc.).

3.  The resident will choose a bill relating to children’s health and follow it through the Virginia General Assembly, learning to track it on the LIS website, as well as attending in Richmond the appropriate committee meeting(s) for her bill and/or the subsequent House or Senate vote on that bill.

4.   The resident will develop an outline proposal for future pediatric resident advocacy experiences that focus on the targeted advocacy issue and will propose and/or update a competency component for the targeted advocacy issue for our outpatient pediatric training rotation.

5.  The resident will develop a list of resources that can be disseminated to individuals interested in this advocacy issue.

6.  The resident will present a noon conference at the end of their month that provides a current synopsis of the topics and challenges associated with the targeted advocacy issue. This presentation will also include the information gathered and prepared in # 4 and # 5.

7.  The resident will meet weekly with the preceptor to discuss their progress in meeting the goals of this elective.

8.  The resident must meet with the preceptor at least two months in advance to organize and pre-schedule the specific activities of their elective month.    

Interested residents should contact Dr. Diane Pappas, Director of Child Advocacy, childadvocacy@virginia.edu, to talk about the requirements of the elective and about how to develop a child elective month in order to further pursue their own interests related to pediatric health and advocacy.