During her cardiology rotation, Monique Gardner, MD, encountered patients who had received, or who were awaiting, heart transplantation. In some cases, there was not enough time for dedicated teaching about this patient population. In addition, she wanted to learn more about liver, lung and kidney transplant patients receiving care at CHOP. Many of Dr. Gardner’s co-residents were also interested in hearing more about her experiences with this unique patient population. To help increase the knowledge base around transplants and organ donation, Dr. Gardner created a transplant medicine elective with the help of Sam Goldfarb, MD, and Beth Rezet, MD.

To create an easy-to-use resource for residents, she developed Transplant Medicine Quick Guides for each of the solid organs: lung, liver, heart and kidney. These guides followed a universal format that included introductory topics for each of the organs. The guides were reviewed by specialists in each of the respective fields. The guides are now posted in the resident workrooms for easy accessibility, and published in the Intern Survival Guide. In the future, these guides can be edited and expanded upon for continued use.

This resident advocacy project eventually expanded beyond the residency program. As part of Organ Donation Awareness Month in April 2014, information regarding organ donation was distributed prior to Pediatric Grand Rounds. The handout included statistics about patients awaiting organ transplantation, as well as those who could be helped through the gift of organ donation.

About Resident Senior Advocacy Projects: At Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the Community Pediatrics and Advocacy Program (CPAP) integrates an expanded focus on advocacy and community-based pediatrics into pediatric resident training. Senior Advocacy Projects are the capstone of the CPAP curriculum and training.