Begin to Develop the Skills You’ll Need

In the first year of our residency program, you’ll begin to develop the skills necessary to become competent pediatricians. With an emphasis on general inpatient and outpatient pediatrics, neonatology, well-baby care, and emergency medicine, during the first year, you’ll:

• rotate through the medical/surgical units, general pediatrics clinics, and newborn nurseries, as well as gain training in private practitioners’ offices
• receive as much responsibility as possible, in a supervised educational environment
• have the opportunity to make decisions, formulate diagnoses, and present your cases to supervisors. Our attending faculty members are very accessible and will give you support and direction
• gain experience with common and uncommon pediatric diseases, as well as the various aspects of well-child care and normal growth and development
• explore areas of special interest through a block of electives
• complete training in Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) and Neonatal Resuscitation Program courses

Begin to Care for Patients With More Complex Needs

In your second year, we’ll emphasize developing skills and knowledge to take care of patients with more complex needs. The second-year program has additional flexibility, giving you a choice of ambulatory medical and surgical subspecialty experiences.

You’ll also gain increased responsibility and independence in the emergency department, and work with critically ill patients in rotations through cardiology, as well as the neonatal and pediatric intensive care units. You’ll begin to take on a supervisory role in general inpatient rotations, helping first-year residents organize rounds, triaging and assigning patients, and assuming overall coordination of clinical care.

To present a balanced curriculum in the second year, we offer a variety of electives. You also can increase your private office experience during much of the second (and third) year of training, while continuing traditional continuity clinics for a half day each week.

Residents will spend two weeks on a dedicated teaching rotation, learning valuable skills from experienced clinical educators with the opportunity to practice those skills during multiple afternoon teaching sessions.

Become a Manager and Educator

During your third year, the emphasis will be on training to become a manager and educator, rather than on simply providing patient care. You’ll oversee and assist junior residents and students in the inpatient and outpatient settings, providing guidance and supervision. Team management, in conjunction with our attending faculty members, will become a major role you’ll take on this year. 

You’ll also have ample opportunities for elective rotations in subspecialty areas of interest. Throughout your residency program, you’ll have a chance to work with community agencies that provide services to children. You’ll receive wide-ranging experience in developmental and behavioral pediatrics, as well as the evaluation and treatment of victims of child abuse through the Child Advocacy Center.

Off-site electives, including experiences abroad, are permitted during call-free rotations. Research electives also are encouraged.

A Day in the Life of a Pediatric Resident 

Here’s what you can expect, in general, when you come to Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children’s Pediatric Residency Program:

6:30-8:30 a.m. Sign-In & 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 being cared for by their team.

8:30-9 a.m. Morning Report
The house officers and attendings will discuss an interesting case 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 attending, and subspecialty attendings. The morning report also is well-attended by the faculty.

9 a.m. to noon Family-Centered Rounds & General Patient Care
Bedside rounding is performed on each patient and involves medical students, house staff, nursing staff, and families. Our computer order entry system and portable computers allow most orders to be entered while the team is rounding. However, there is time after bedside rounds to complete notes, call consults, and handle any other patient care-related work.

Noon to 1 p.m. 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 morbidity and mortality conferences during this one-hour time period. This time is protected for the residents’ education.

1-5:30 p.m. General Inpatient Care or 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 good opportunity for you to receive even more instruction, by speaking with consultants who may have been called in that morning. 

One half-day per week each resident works in one of our five local primary care centers. During this time, residents provide acute and well-child care to a group of patients with whom they build a relationship over the 3 years they’re assigned to that center.

5:30 p.m. Sign-Out to the Night Team

Monday, Tuesday & Thursday mornings

Morning report is a case-oriented conference led and presented by an inpatient team, critical care team, or a resident assigned to a subspecialty. A morning report audience will include medical students, residents, fellows, general and subspecialty pediatric attending, and radiologists, all of whom come together to contribute to the learning environment. The Chief Residents follow up by researching the topics discussed and e-mailing links and articles.

Wednesday mornings

Grand Round lectures are presented weekly by faculty, as well as local and nationally known speakers on a variety of topics.

Biweekly

The Chief Residents present conferences biweekly.

You’ll be mentored by our faculty members during your electives or as part of the Teaching Admitting rotation, leading to your presentation at a teaching conference.

Daily

The supervising attending leads Daily Bedside Rounds — multidisciplinary rounds that include medical students, residents, fellows, social work, nursing, and parents. These are supplemented by monthly bedside teaching rounds with the Chief Residents.

Daily

Daily conferences are scheduled from noon to 1 p.m. Over the course of three years all subspecialty divisions contribute to presenting the noon conference. Topics include basics of patient care, neonatology, genetics, pulmonary, emergency medicine, infectious disease, dermatology, allergy/immunology, endocrinology, adolescent/gyn, GI/nutrition, rheumatology, hematology/oncology, nephrology/urology, development, respiratory diseases, surgical subspecialties. Lunch is served daily. Pagers and iPhones are held by the residency office so you can concentrate on the topic presented.

Daily

Radiology rounds occur daily. Teams meet with radiologists at appointed times to review studies for all patients on the team. The residents have an opportunity to ask questions and learn from the radiologists.

Monthly conferences include Morbidity and Mortality, Ethics, Neurology, Hematology/Oncology, and Trauma.

The program encourages residents to fine-tune their procedural skills by scheduling a procedure day for every resident. You’ll spend time with Day Medicine, phlebotomy, and sim labs. If interested, you may schedule additional time in the sim laboratory with an attending.

Monthly board review sessions are offered at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children. Our residency program also works with Penn State Hershey Medical Center to offer a comprehensive three-day board review course in the fall. The conference is free of charge to our house staff.