The Residency Program

Overview
The Advocate Christ Medical Center Pediatric Residency Program is dedicated to preparing physicians for a career in pediatrics, whether as a subspecialist or generalist. During the three-year program, residents are exposed to a rich variety of pediatric experiences at Advocate Hope Children's Hospital from the diagnostic dilemmas and management challenges of primary care to highly sophisticated and unusual examples of tertiary care. Approximately one half of our graduates enter primary care, one third enter fellowships, and the remainder become hospitalists. Over the past 10 years, our graduates have obtained a wide variety of fellowships, at excellent programs including the University of Pennsylvania (CHOP), Baylor, Johns Hopkins, UCLA, UC-San Diego, Mayo Clinic, Ohio State, University of Pittsburgh, Children’s Memorial, and Loyola.

Program Specifics
Residents who train at Christ Medical Center diagnose and manage a range of acute and chronic pediatric diseases of all levels of severity. The residents develop competency in managing "bread and butter" cases, as well as unusually and critically ill patients on the inpatient services and critical units, and in the acute care clinic and the pediatric emergency center.

Ambulatory settings are used extensively for the education of the residents, in general and subspecialty pediatrics. In addition to acute care, continuity clinics and office-based activities, outpatient experiences are formally required in:

In addition, all of the medical subspecialty electives require that a significant portion of each rotation is spent in the outpatient setting.

Our residents participate in several community and advocacy programs, including:

• County Child Death Review
• Daycare program
• Domestic violence shelter
• Headstart programs
• High school-based clinics
• Palliative and hospice care
• Urban K-8 school-based clinic

Beginning this year, our program assumes medical responsibility for the traveling Ronald McDonald Care mobile providing medical care to under served patients with limited access to health care.

Since November 2000, our residency has been a pilot program for the national Healthy Steps initiative. This is a clinical and educational program that emphasizes the promotion of health and optimal development in young children. Under the supervision of a trained Healthy Steps specialist, the residents longitudinally participate in normal newborn clinic, home visits, enhanced well-child clinic visits and parent groups.

Each resident, of course, has a weekly continuity clinic. In 2005-2006, 12 of our residents had their continuity clinics in the private sector under the guidance of outstanding general pediatricians.

The basic in-house call schedule is as follows:

PGY I:

• 7 rotations every 4th night
• 4 rotations every 6th night to 8th night
  
• 1 rotation with no in house call
• 4 weeks vacation
  

PGY II:

• 7 rotations every 4th night
• no other in-house call
• 4 weeks vacation
  

PGY III:

• 3 rotations every 4th night
• 3 rotations every 6th night
• no other in-house call
• 4 weeks vacation
  

* Conception and Fetal Development/Genetics
** Community/Advocacy Rotation
*** Surgical Office Based - Musculoskeletal Rotation

• We have developed a hospitalist program to help provide direct hands-on education and clinical support to the residents. We have full-time, 24/7 coverage. The work of the hospitalists is integrated completely into the residency program.
• We have a full-time, 4th year Chief Resident Model.