University of Utah Pediatric Resident Writing Elective

Course Director Jennifer Goldman
Managing Editor/ADMIN Dale Herring
# of Weeks Available for a Block 1/2/3 weeks
Available Longitudinally yes
Maximum # of Learners per week Medical Students: 1 Residents: 2 Fellows: 2
Special Considerations Can be done remotely
Competencies Patient Care, Medical Knowledge, Interpersonal Skills and Comm, Practice-based Learning, Professionalism, Systems-based Practice

Rotation Details

Trainees participate in developing, revising, and/or updating material for the Medical Home Portal website, which provides guidance to primary care clinicians and supports families of children with special health care needs. Examples of prior resident publications include Contraception & Menstrual Management and CBD for Neurologic Conditions in Children. Publications for the Medical Home Portal can strengthen and diversify the trainee’s curriculum vitae.

Goals/Expectations

  1. Collaborate with Medical Home Portal staff on a work plan at the start and periodically review progress with the Technical Editor and Editor-in-Chief.
  2. Utilize PubMed and other media to identify clinical practice guidelines and evidence-based guidance for clinical care.
  3. After your first draft is complete, a Senior Author will give feedback. A response to their comments may be required. All clinical content goes for peer review after publication. The peer review will likely be completed outside of elective time. If you are unable to respond to review comments, another author will be asked to complete this process.

Competencies

  1. Ability to adapt writing to an intended audience (e.g., primary care clinicians or families/caregivers of children with special health care needs).
  2. Self-motivation to complete tasks in a timely manner with minimal supervision. 
  3. Interpretation and application of existing medical literature to online clinical education.

Required Reading or Viewing

Please watch the first two videos prior to or at the start of your elective. We no longer have an in-person meeting for this orientation, so without watching these videos, you will not be able to actively participate in the elective.

Typical Schedule

Day 1: Orientation to Portal, discussion of writing options, selection of topic, generation of work plan and outline of content, set up UBox, set up log-in to the Portal. (Some Day 1 activities may precede the start date of the elective.)
Day 2-3: Conduct lit review. Write, and edit topic. Check-in with editor.
Day 4-5: Complete writing and editing. Save completed work to Box and alert the editor. This schedule can be adjusted to accommodate additional weeks and/or longitudinal work over a year (such as during ambulatory weeks).
A senior author and reviewer will give feedback. The response may be outside of your elective time.

Important Tips

  • Use track changes.
  • Change the text to how it should be read (instead of using comments on how it might be changed).
  • Use PubMed IDs whenever possible and insert the ID in a comment exactly where you want the citation to appear.
  • Change the text to how it should be read (as opposed to making general suggestions in comments). Do not worry about changing a previous author’s text; deleting and shortening are encouraged.
  • For content focused on the needs of primary care clinicians, base information on evidence and cite when relevant. Also, offer practical information based on your experience that would not be found elsewhere. Shorter is better.
  • For content focused on the needs of families, write what you would most like your patients to know. Keep language simple.
  • Images are always welcome, but we only can publish those you have the copyright to or those in Public Domain. If unsure, we will check copyright status.

Adding Medical Home Portal Work to Your CV

In 2023, the Medical Home Portal website had 537,894 viewers from 209 countries, including the USA, India, Canada, the UK, and Australia. Much of the clinical content is peer-reviewed, which elevates its significance when you are considered for retention or promotion. Because of this meaningful impact, writing or reviewing content for the Medical Home is considered outward-facing academic productivity and should be included on your CV. The following tip sheets provide guidance on how to add authored or reviewed content to the University of Utah CV system.

Publications

Reviews

Log into your CV editor. Go to the Career tab, select Editorial Experience, and Add a New Entry. See example below:
Adding a Medical Home Portal Review to Your UU CV

Citing Your Medical Home Portal Publication

An example of the format for a Portal publication citation is:

  • Goldman J. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) for Educators. Medical Home Portal, University of Utah Department of Pediatrics; (2021) https://www.medicalhomeportal.org/clinical-practice/education-and-schools/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-for-educators Accessed 2/6/2024. Diagnosis module for Rett syndrome updated June 2021.Critical information and resources for school personnel working with children who have or are suspected of having attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

How to Use Box

Accessing Box

  1. Sign in to Box by going to UBox.
  2. Use Duo Authentication if prompted.
  3. The first time you sign in, you may need to wait for your account to be created.

Opening a Box File

  1. Box Online (Recommended)
  2. Box Desktop Program

Box Online

  1. In Box Online, sign in using CIS, and click the desired file to open.
  2. To edit, use the “open” menu.
    1. Open in [MS Office/Adobe Program] will open with the desktop version of that program. This is better when using track changes.
      1. A prompt will appear to lock file. Please select duration time and lock the file.
        1. Open in [MS Office/Adobe Program] Online will open in an online version of that program. Typically, these are less robust. This is better when collaborating simultaneously with others on the file – not so good with track changes.

Box Offline

  1. Box Drive (Recommended): Your files live in the cloud, but you can access them from your desktop as you would other files. Files do not require room on your hard drive. New versions of Box Drive have the option to sync select files to your desktop.  Download Box Drive.
  2. WARNING: Do not use Box Drive and Box Sync on the same machine.
  3. Once you have Box Drive on your computer, you can open and edit documents directly from the Box file using the appropriate program. Changes will be automatically saved and uploaded to the cloud when Internet is available.

Meaning of Symbols for Files in Box: Are Versions Synched Correctly?

  • Blue Cloud outline
    Blue Cloud Outline
    : Files and folders are set for online use only.
  • Green with Checkmark
    Green with Checkmark
    : Files and folders are set for offline use; online and offline versions are the same. When offline, a green checkmark indicates that the file or folder matches the most recently available online version.
  • Orange with Arrows
    Orange with Arrows
    : File or folder version saved to the desktop is different from the most recent online version.

Authors & Reviewers

Initial publication: June 2022; last update/revision: March 2024
Current Authors and Reviewers:
Authors: Jennifer Goldman, MD, MRP, FAAP
Dale-Marie Herring
Authoring history
2024: first version: Jennifer Goldman, MD, MRP, FAAPA; Dale-Marie HerringA
AAuthor; CAContributing Author; SASenior Author; RReviewer