6199 ‘The global child health electives toolkit’: supporting paediatric elective placements for healthcare students

Objectives Electives offer valuable opportunities for healthcare students to explore clinical care, research, policy, and advocacy within different health systems and settings. Paediatric electives often bring unique and challenging experiences, and if well-supported, can be extremely rewarding. These experiences can help students consolidate clinical knowledge, enable personal and professional development, and establish an interest in global child health. While support for general elective planning and delivery is available, there are limited resources written specifically for paediatrics and child health that take an ethically sensitive and holistic view of the experience. The aim of the 'Global Child Health Electives Toolkit' was to develop a resource to support elective planning for healthcare students with a paediatric interest, while promoting engagement in global child health. Methods The Toolkit was written by medical students, foundation doctors, and paediatric trainees based in the UK. Further input was provided from recent medical graduates, senior clinicians within the International Child Health Group (ICHG), and representatives from international institutions that have hosted electives for students. Results The Toolkit has three sections: 'Before', 'During', and 'After'. The 'Before' section contains advice and pre-departure checklists to help students formulate achievable goals and consider the practical logistics of their placement. The 'During' section provides tips for history taking and examinations in paediatrics and signposts students to relevant online resources. Various case studies illustrate challenging situations students may encounter to provide support and guidance. These illustrations include ethical dilemmas, resource allocation issues, and dealing with traumatic experiences such as child death during their elective. The 'After' section offers recommendations on how to build on the student elective experience from a personal development and career perspective. It focuses on debriefing effectively and offers guidance on how to take part in global child health advocacy. The Toolkit is available to download as an open-access resource on the ICHG website¹ and has been disseminated to all UK medical schools. This resource is currently being promoted through social media, the ICHG, and The Electives Network's workshops. To this date, informal feedback on a national level has been highly positive. Conclusion The Toolkit is a unique resource for supporting students interested in developing a career in paediatrics and global child health. We plan to collect feedback from students, medical schools, and hosting institutions to keep the toolkit up-to-date and relevant for all stakeholders. Reference https://www.internationalchildhealthgroup.org/electivestoolkit