Curriculum and Schedules

Resident Rotations

Each rotation block is four weeks in length.

PL-1 Year

• Inpatient Pediatrics (4 blocks)
• NICU (2 blocks)
• Term Nursery (1 block)
• Pediatric Emergency Medicine (1 block)
• Ambulatory Pediatrics (1 block)
• Behavioral-Developmental Pediatrics (1 block)
• Elective (1 block)
• Individualized Curriculum/Elective at CHOP (1 block)*
• Vacation (1 block)

PL-2 Year

• Inpatient Pediatrics (2 blocks)
• NICU (2 blocks)
• PICU (1 block)
• Term Nursery (1 block)
• Child Psychiatry (1 block)
• Urgent Care Clinic (1 block)
• Ambulatory Pediatrics (1 block)
• Adolescent Medicine (1 block)
• Individualized Curriculum/Elective (1 block)
• Individualized Curriculum at CHOP (1 block)*
• Vacation (1 block)

PL-3 Year

• Inpatient Pediatrics (2 blocks)
• PICU (1 block)
• Pediatric Emergency Medicine (1 block)
• Community Pediatrics (1 block)
• Elective (4 blocks)
• Individualized Curriculum/Elective (2 blocks)
• Individualized Curriculum at CHOP (1 block)*
• Vacation (1 block)

* These three rotations take place at CHOP under the direction and supervision of the CHOP physicians. All other rotations take place at Saint Peter's University Hospital.

CHOP = The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Program Aims

1. Overall goal: Provide a high quality comprehensive pediatric education and training experience in order to produce highly competent physician graduates.
2. Upon graduation residents will be extremely well prepared to enter pediatric practice or fellowship and will be able to pass the ABP Certification Exam on their first attempt.
3. Residents will be engaged life-long learners, team-players, effective communicators, and successful advocates for their patients.
4. Residents will have a good understanding of the principles of quality improvement and patient safety, will actively participate in quality and safety activities during their residency, and will continue to be significantly involved in quality and safety activities throughout their careers.
5. Residents will be exposed to primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary levels of care and will thus develop strong clinical acumen in caring for patients as well as confidence in determining when subspecialty consultations are indicated for their patients.

Pediatric Teaching Conference Schedule

1. Morning Report
   Held daily starting at 8 am. Admissions and clinical cases from the previous night are discussed with general and subspecialty pediatric faculty for approximately 30-45 minutes. All residents are expected to attend.
2. Grand Rounds
   Held on Thursdays from 8:30 to 9:30 am. Speakers from all aspects of pediatrics will provide lectures on a diverse array of topics. All members of the Department of Pediatrics are expected to attend.
3. Tuesday Morning Pediatric Conference
   All residents are expected to attend a conference for one hour on Tuesday mornings from 8:30 to 9:30 am. These conferences will be on a rotating schedule to include Simulation Center, Journal Club, Pediatric Board Review and Morbidity and Mortality Conference.
4. CHOP Visiting Professorship Series
   Once a month a distinguished faculty member from our partner hospital, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), will present a lecture at grand rounds, and give an additional teaching conference geared to our residents.
5. Attending Rounds
   Attending rounds are an integral part of each service and of the education of each resident on that service. Each service will have its own attending rounds in the morning under the direction of the faculty member in charge. This will include bedside and didactic rounds. Schedules are set by the individual faculty members and established at the beginning of each rotation.
6. Noon Conference
   Held daily from noon to 1 p.m. Each session is run by a member of the faculty and offers instruction on various core topics in pediatrics. The topic schedule is established by the program evaluation committee with particular attention to the core curriculum of the residency program. All residents are expected to attend.
7. Sign-Out Rounds
   Residents will gather at the end of the day when all routine work is completed, to sign out patients to the oncoming call team. All pertinent information concerning each patient will be discussed in order to ensure proper transfer of care to the overnight call team. Each service has its own organized sign-out rounds.