Pediatric Residency Curriculum

Curriculum Overview

The primary goal of the Carolinas Medical Center Department of Pediatrics is to train residents to become well-rounded general pediatricians who are fully prepared and confident to enter a subspecialty fellowship or a practice setting of their choice.

The large primary care base within the city of Charlotte, NC, combined with our role as the regional referral center with all pediatric subspecialties for the surrounding counties of North and South Carolina, affords us the opportunity to expose our residents to the full depth and breadth of pediatrics, equipping them to evaluate the spectrum of pediatric health issues.

The curriculum offers a balanced set of experiences at each level of training, in compliance with the recommendations of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's (ACGME) Residency Review Committee for Pediatrics, and designed to develop expertise in all six of the ACGME core competencies. Our flexible tracks allow for individualized experiences for all residents, regardless of their career interests.

Our award winning faculty in the CAPE department and supportive faculty members in several research laboratories across the campus provide numerous opportunities for pursuing scholarly activity throughout residency.

Yearly Schedule and Objectives

PL-1

The PL-1 curriculum is designed to lay the foundation necessary for a career in pediatric medicine. Experience on core inpatient and outpatient rotations, including exposure to patients ranging in age from premature neonates to late adolescence and crossing a variety of subspecialty fields, ensure residents have the groundwork they need for further development of expertise.

PL-2

The PL-2 resident returns to some of the core rotations, taking on a supervisory role with progressive responsibility and further developing skills in patient triage, management and decision-making. Additional critical care experience, subspecialty rotations and an advocacy experience broaden the resident's knowledge base and confidence in pediatric practice.

PL-3

The PL-3 resident serves as the supervisory resident across rotations and in the pediatric intensive care unit, continuing to develop and hone assessment and teaching skills over the spectrum of pediatric practice. Many elective months allow the resident individualized educational opportunities as they approach the transition to independent practice or fellowship training.

Career-Focused Training

In accordance with ACGME requirements that residents have at least 6 educational units of individualized curriculum, we offer experiences termed “Career-Focused Training.” These months span the PL2 and PL3 years and can include traditional pediatric subspecialties or can be experiences developed by the resident and an identified preceptor to build goals and objectives specific to the resident’s interests. Past examples include school health, practice management, pediatric ultrasound, residents as teachers and research.

Clinical Rotations

Longitudinal Tracks

Each resident selects a track early in their PL-2 year that spans the rest of their training.

1) Office-Based Ambulatory

The resident is paired with a provider at a local community practice with the goal of treating a different patient population than the traditional resident continuity clinic. Half-day experiences are spread throughout the PL2 and PL3 years.

2) Office-Based Subspecialty

The resident is paired with a subspecialty preceptor or practice group in a subspecialty of interest. Half-day experiences are spread throughout PL2 and PL3 years.

3) Inpatient Care

This new longitudinal experience pairs a resident with an inpatient provider in their field of interest (ex. Hospitalist, Intensivist) for half-days throughout the PL-2 and PL-3 years. This experience may include time at an outlying community hospital.

4) Global Health

Residents participate in an immersive 2-week global health "crash course" at the beginning of your PL-2 year. During this course, the resident reviews various topics pertinent to global health, participates in global health simulation sessions, and develops a global health project. Sixteen half-days throughout the PL-2 and PL-3 years are used to complete the project. Residents can also participate in a rotation abroad.

5) CARE (Advocacy)

An advanced advocacy experience that includes an immersive 2-week curriculum of didactics and experiential learning early in the PL-2 year. The resident then uses designated half-days throughout PL-2 and PL-3 years to complete an advocacy project.

Continuity Clinic

Residents attend continuity clinic an average of 1 afternoon per week. As interns, they are placed on teams that correspond with a specific day of the week and given a patient panel of children ranging from neonates to 18 years old. Over the course of their residency, they gain valuable experience building relationships with their patients/families and observing development. They also build relationships with their peers and preceptor, as these teams remain consistent over the course of their residency.

Didactics

Academic Half Day

Every Tuesday from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m., residents are released from clinical duties to attend an afternoon of didactics. A replacement of the traditional noon conference, the academic half day allows residents to fully engage in the learning without disruptions and allows for more in-depth discussions of topics that 45 minutes to 1 hour cannot provide. The goal is to provide collaborative and interactive sessions where residents not only learn what is needed for passing the boards but the practical knowledge that will help them thrive on the wards.

High Value Care Conference

During their third year, residents work with a mentor from the pediatric hospitalist group to present a patient case at our monthly High Value Care Conference. This conference serves to help residents understand the diagnostic criteria and value-based management of common pediatric complaints and also to learn how to integrate healthcare quality, cost and value into decisions for diagnostic testing.

Other Resident-Led Conferences

Over three years, residents also present Morbidity and Mortality Conference, Ambulatory Conference, multiple QI presentations and Grand Rounds.

Grand Rounds

Taking place every Wednesday from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m., medical students, residents and faculty gather for reviews of current topics in medicine.

Rotation-Specific Conferences

Residents and other learners on NICU, full-term nursery, outpatient medicine, PICU and inpatient medicine gather on Monday, Thursday and Friday for learning specific to their rotation.  

Resident Board Review

Residents have access to New England Journal of Medicine Knowledge Plus and PREP questions from the AAP for board preparation. All residents are also gifted Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics for reference throughout their training.

Electives