Pediatric Residency Curriculum

• Inpatient: 16 weeks
• Night Float: 4 weeks
• Ambulatory Clinic: 11 weeks*
• Community Medicine: 3 weeks
• Term Newborn: 2 weeks
• Pediatric Emergency Medicine: 4 weeks
• Hematology/Oncology: 4 weeks
• 3 weeks of vacation to be taken during ambulatory weeks or emergency medicine

*Ambulatory week can include general pediatrics, development and behavioral, adolescent medicine, and mental behavioral health

• Inpatient: 6 weeks
• Night Float: 5 weeks
• Ambulatory Clinic: 11 weeks*
• PICU: 6 weeks
• NICU: 4 weeks
• Electives: 11 weeks
• Pediatric Emergency Medicine: 4 weeks
• 4 weeks of vacation to be taken during ambulatory weeks or emergency medicine

*Ambulatory week can include general pediatrics, development and behavioral, adolescent medicine, and mental behavioral health

• Inpatient: 6 weeks
• Night Float: 4 weeks
• Ambulatory Clinic: 10 weeks*
• PICU: 4 weeks
• NICU: 3 weeks
• Electives: 11 weeks
• Term Newborn: 2 weeks
• Pediatric Emergency Medicine: 4 weeks
• 4 weeks of vacation to be taken during ambulatory weeks or emergency medicine

*Ambulatory week can include general pediatrics, term newborn, development and behavioral, adolescent medicine, and mental behavioral health

We encourage active resident participation in scholarly activity during the residency including resident presentations at Pediatric Grand Rounds, case report presentations at regional/national meetings and submissions to peer reviewed journals, as well as opportunities to participate in a national practice-based research network (CORNET, sponsored by the Academic Pediatrics Association and based in the Continuity Clinic).

Residents also can conduct an independent original research project (i.e., randomized controlled trial or retrospective review of charts) with the support of a faculty research mentor and the Pediatric Research Steering Committee to help facilitate design, funding and implementation of the project.

Interns participate in a focused Community Medicine rotation that provides an understanding of the problems and challenges in mobilizing effective community resources aimed at delivering safe, effective, efficient and timely care for their pediatric patients. This experience is supplemented by participation in a faculty-led case-based advocacy curriculum. With this background residents complete a community medicine/advocacy project months prior to completion of their residency.

The goal of the Community Medicine/Advocacy Project is to challenge each of our residents to “open their eyes,” go into their community, and carefully analyze the system of care that is designed to keep patients healthy. Each resident is encouraged to complete a CATCH grant as part of this process.

Components of the Community Medicine rotation include, but are not limited to:

• Working with at-risk youth at the Baton Rouge Big Buddy after-school program.
• Monthly school-based health clinics. Interns see patients alongside an upper-level resident. Upper levels can see patients alone with faculty supervision over the phone.
• Teaching mental health awareness to middle school and high schoolers.
• Working with a pediatric ER physician monthly at Our Lady of the Lake’s child abuse clinic.
• Shadowing a WIC officer to establish families with Louisiana’s supplemental nutrition program.
• Shadowing an inpatient and outpatient social worker in Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital and the local public school systems.
• Involved in multi-disciplinary meetings with the Baton Rouge police department to review child trafficking cases and child death review.
• Weekly community medicine discussions with the Tulane pediatric residency via Zoom.
• Seeing college patients at LSU Health Clinic (GYN, psych, nutrition, counseling).

Residents meet with faculty advisors at least twice a year. Goals for each meeting are predetermined and include evaluation review, updates on career plans and progress toward project completion, and fine tuning of individualized learning plans. Residents review progress toward goals and career plans with the program director at least twice per academic year.

Our board preparation encompasses a variety of educational tools allowing us to individualize board prep.

• Our residents receive textbooks and question banks from MedStudy and TrueLearn.
• We administer in-house in-training exams throughout the year as well as monthly board review sessions designed to reinforce board-relevant content specifications.
• Residents are assigned board coaches if their ITE score is below the national average. Each resident meets with their board coach and/or the program director to delineate the best prep curriculum beyond the program’s baseline.
• We have built-in protected time for board preparation during all three years of residency.
• All PGY-3s undergo a board review rotation at the end of PGY-3 where the residents have protected time to study and prepare for the exam.

Team building exercises begin during intern orientation and are intertwined with resident activities throughout the academic year. Protected time for the annual overnight retreat in the fall and day-long class retreats in the spring highlight our emphasis on residents as community leaders while demonstrating the success that can be achieved when working as a team.

Noon Report
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 12:15-1:00 p.m.

Pediatric Grand Rounds
Two Tuesdays per month

Evidence-Based Medicine Curriculum/Journal Club
Monthly (during Thursday lectures)

Morbidity and Mortality Conferences
One Tuesday per month