Advocacy & Public Health
We recognize that many new interns come to residency passionate about different aspects of child health. Our goal is to help you foster these interests through our Resident Advocacy Curriculum that was designed by our faculty and residents in an effort to improve residents’ skills as a child advocate. The written curriculum begins with a general introduction to advocacy. It then reviews how to investigate advocacy issues and use legislative advocacy tools. The advocacy curriculum culminates in the completion of an individual advocacy project on a topic of the resident’s choosing. The curriculum includes:
- Advocacy Handbook: Each intern receives a handbook that contains general information about advocacy, articles discussing the role of pediatricians in advocacy, an introduction to the legislative process, and a list of resources for community and legislative advocacy.
- Advocacy Project: During the community pediatrics rotation, each intern meets with an advocacy mentor and selects and completes a focused advocacy project.
- Presentation: The intern completes a written project description and presents a brief discussion of the project at Morning Report.
- Further Development: Many residents use their advocacy project as the framework for their scholarly project.
Advocacy Day
The Wisconsin AAP, State Medical Society of Wisconsin, and the pediatric residency programs in Madison, Milwaukee, and Marshfield join together annually for Wisconsin Pediatric Residents’ Advocacy Day. Each year, this conference has a different focus, e.g. various legislative issues, issues affecting urban populations, issues affecting rural/farming populations, etc. This conference allows the participants to learn about existing advocacy programs and help with collaboration on issues important to child health.