

General Pediatrics/Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Program Overview
The combined program is a five-year residency offered by Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University (TJU) and Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children.
As a resident in this program, you'll spend the first year in pediatrics as an intern doing all the same rotations as the categorical pediatric residents, with the exception of one month of pediatric rehabilitation. The next two years are divided evenly between the programs, and in years four and five there is progressively more rehabilitation medicine and less pediatrics.
During the program, you can expect to:
- Begin pediatric rehabilitation training in your first year.
- After your first year, alternate between the continuity clinic (a primary pediatrics office run by residents and supervised by attending) and follow-up practice for children who were discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit.
- Continue pediatrics through the beginning of your fifth year to keep up your skills.
- Be eligible to sit for the American Board of Pediatrics and American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation examinations after completing residency.
Program Components
Pediatrics
Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, an operating entity of the Nemours Foundation, serves as the primary teaching hospital for the pediatric residency program. The hospital has a full-time and community-based faculty of 465, consisting of general pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists representing all disciplines. The residency program emphasizes balance, diversity and flexibility. It is designed to provide the resident with exposure to a wide variety of pediatric pathology and patient care environments including urban, suburban and rural pediatric populations.
Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
The purpose of the Rehabilitation Medicine Residency Program at Thomas Jefferson University is to prepare physicians to excel in all aspects of the field. The faculty, in conjunction with the residents, have designed a program that exposes the physiatrist-in-training to broad and varied learning experiences, a diverse patient population, and state-of-the-art treatments in all aspects of the specialty. The individual teaching between nationally and internationally known attendings and resident physicians is considered one of the most differentiating features of the program.
The Combined Program
This unique residency program provides residents with the knowledge and skills to provide proactive medical management to pediatric patients with disabilities. Established in 1996, this combined program encourages residents to take advantage of the extensive resources and learning opportunities available within both residency training programs. Upon completion, residents are triple-board eligible (General Pediatrics, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Pediatric Rehabilitation).
Pediatric Rehabilitation Services
- amputee
- Baclofen pump
- cardiac rehabilitation
- cerebral palsy
- chronic musculoskeletal pain
- concussion
- feeding
- lymphedema
- neuromuscular
- NICU follow-up
- seating
- spasticity
- stroke
- special babies
- spinal cord injury/spinal dysfunction
- traumatic brain injury
- academic therapy
- adaptive seating
- aquatics
- augmentative communication
- cognitive therapy
- occupational therapy
- orthotics & prosthetics
- neuropsychology
- physical therapy
- psychology
- rehabilitation nursing
- speech therapy
- social work
- therapeutic recreation
Unique Features and Accreditations
- Extensive training at nationally renowned duPont Hospital for Children
- Ongoing robotic and orthotic research
- State-of-the-art gait lab
- East coast referral center for ventilator dependent quadriplegics
- On-site orthotics
- Full-time rehabilitation engineer
- Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Program (CORP) which allows patients to continue with a full rehabilitation program as an outpatient
Nemours has been consistently accredited by CARF International (the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities) since 1989 for its comprehensive inpatient and interdisciplinary outpatient programs.
Jefferson is a Regional SCI Center and is also CARF-accredited for medical rehabilitation and stroke.
Magee is CARF-accredited for its medical rehabilitation programs in comprehensive integrated inpatient rehabilitation, spinal cord injury, brain injury and stroke.
Training Facilities
Your training will take place at a variety of sites throughout the Delaware Valley, to give you a broad range of patient care experience.
The main training site for the pediatrics program, this beautiful hospital is located in Wilmington, Delaware. It boasts one of the region’s largest pediatric rehabilitation inpatient units, with 20 beds, and its extensive history in treating children with orthopedic needs makes it uniquely suited as a rehabilitation medicine center.
You’ll participate in both inpatient rehabilitation and outpatient care, including a spinal dysfunction clinic, Baclofen pump clinic, electromyography (EMG) studies, and general rehabilitation visits. In addition, you’ll follow the progress of patients in the Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Program (CORP) — a day hospital program for children who would benefit from continued intensive rehabilitation as an outpatient.
Learn More About Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children »
In Nemours duPont Pediatrics outpatient clinic at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (TJU) located in downtown Philadelphia, you’ll rotate through pediatrics and rehabilitation medicine. You’ll manage consultations, treat outpatients, and work with the acute spinal cord injury service. Jefferson is designated as one of the nation’s 16 Model Spinal Cord Injury Centers by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR).
At this hospital in Wilmington, Delaware, you’ll rotate through the labor and delivery unit, well-baby nursery, and the 70-bed special-care nursery. With one of the region’s busiest labor and delivery services, you’ll get the opportunity to attend many normal and high-risk deliveries and become comfortable with neonatal resuscitation skills.
This freestanding rehabilitation hospital in Center City Philadelphia serves a broad range of patients including: postoperative orthopedic, amputees, as well as those with stroke, spinal cord injury, brain injury and a variety of musculoskeletal disorders. Residents spend time on both inpatient and outpatient services.
At this large provider of inpatient and outpatient physical medicine and rehabilitation just north of downtown Philadelphia, you’ll have access to a wide range of rehabilitation patients.
At this Main Line Health hospital in Philadelphia’s eastern suburbs, you’ll work with a variety of rehabilitation patients.
Questions About Applying
Cindy Chuidian
Program Coordinator
(302) 651-5795
cindy.chuidian@nemours.org