Curriculum Development in Pediatric Education: A Systematic Review

Background: Training of Pediatric residents is a dynamic process which should be changed as the nature and epidemiology of pediatric diseases change. We aimed to determine the educational needs of Pediatric residents. Materials and Methods: In this systematic review after selecting appropriate keywords and their combinations, an extensive search was done in databases of Medline, EMBASE, ProQuest and Ovid, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Scopus as well as Persian databases, such as Magiran, Medlib, and SID, using equivalent keywords in Persian, to find related articles to Pediatric education. The full text of the articles was studied by two reviewers and the main findings were extracted and categorized. Quality of studies was evaluated using STROBE statement. Results: Data from nine studies were entered in this study. According to the findings, the necessity of changing Pediatric resident curriculum seems to be necessary in accordance with the conditions of the community. So, subspecialties for Pediatric resident training should be considered; these items can be include: cardiology, development, hematology and oncology, endocrinology, infectious diseases, respirology, palliative care of neurology, emergency, neonatology, gastroenterology, nephrology, gynecology, child psychiatry, behavioral psychology, surgical specialties, orthopedics and adolescents, dermatology, ophthalmology, and otolaryngology. Conclusion Pediatric residents need sufficient, specific training to enable them to competently investigate and treatment of children complaints. So, Pediatric resident curriculum should be developed to be in according to Pediatric educational needs, and also to support the learner’s personal development by contributing to enhancing their self-respect and confidence, motivation and aspirations.