The First Year

The first year emphasizes general inpatient and outpatient pediatrics, neonatology, well baby care, and emergency care. Residents rotate through the medical/surgical units, the general pediatrics clinics, and the newborn nurseries and begin training in private practitioners offices. Residents are given as much responsibility as possible in a supervised educational environment. All residents participate in Pediatric Advanced Life Suppport (PALS) and Neonatal Resuscitation Program courses in the first year.

During the first year, residents begin to develop the skills necessary to become competent pediatricians. They are given the opportunity to make decisions, formulate diagnoses, and present their cases to supervisors. Attending faculty are very accessible and provide support and direction. Residents are exposed to both common and uncommon pediatric diseases as well as the various aspects of well-child care and normal growth and development. An elective block is offered in the first year of training to allow residents to explore areas of special interest.

Want to know what you’ll be doing as a first year pediatric resident?

Here is a Day in the Life: Intern at duPont Hospital for Children

6:30am - 8:30 am: Sign-in and Bedside work rounds on inpatient units. The intern will get sign-out from the outgoing night team and then collect vital signs and examine each patient that they are caring for on their team.

8:30 - 9:00 am: Morning Report. The house officers and attendings will discuss an interesting case that is presented by an upper year resident. This is one of the highlights of our program as it always leads to great discussions between the house staff, general pediatric attendings and subspecialty attendings. It is well attended by the faculty.

9:00 - 12:00 am: Family centered rounds and general patient care. Bedside rounds are performed on each patient that involve the medical students, house staff, nursing staff and families. Our computer order entry system and portable computers it allow most orders to be entered while the team is rounding but there is time after bedside rounds to complete notes, call consults and perform any other patient-care related work.

12:00 - 1:00 pm: Protected teaching conference. Faculty members from the general pediatric division and subspecialties present lectures to the house staff and medical students. Each month the house staff also attends seminars on ethics, case conferences, and morbity and mortality conferences during this one hour time period. This time is protected for the residents’ education.

1:00 - 5:30 pm: General patient care Continuity Clinic. This time is for residents to perform any additional work on their patients and to admit new patients to the hospital. This is also a time to speak with consultants who were called in the morning to get even more teaching. One half day per week the house staff will work in one of our five primary care centers. During this time they will provide acute and well child care to a group of patients with whom they will build a relationship over the three years they are assigned to that center.

5:30 pm: Sign-out to the night team.