Pediatric Residents’ Knowledge and Confidence in Autism Diagnosis: Impact of an Asynchronous Training Module Embedded Within a Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Rotation

With rising autism prevalence coupled with a shortage of trained specialists, pediatricians are caring for more patients with autism. However, pediatric residents experience gaps in autism knowledge and comfort in caring for these children. This study aimed to evaluate changes in autism knowledge and perceived confidence among residents after completion of a developmental-behavioral pediatrics (DBP) rotation, which included an asynchronous module on autism diagnosis. Participants were 79 categorical and combined pediatrics residents. Prior to and following completion of the autism module and clinical experiences in their DBP rotation, residents completed an objective measure of knowledge about autism in young children and rated confidence in autism diagnosis on a Likert scale. Residents demonstrated a significant increase in total autism knowledge from pre-rotation to post-rotation (P = .007). Perceived confidence of autism diagnosis also increased (P < .001). Findings demonstrate the potential for enhancing resident autism knowledge through asynchronous education combined with clinical experience.