The MCH Pediatric Residency Program offers experience in all facets of pediatric care from the most complex intensive care to the office practice of general pediatrics. MCH's medical staff includes 110+ specialists representing over 40 pediatric specialties and sub-specialties who see over 12,500 inpatients and 160,000 patients in the outpatient setting over the year.

The three-year residency training program in pediatrics, fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), is limited to 69 residents and two chief residents. In addition, fellowships in varying specialties are offered.

Pediatric Residency Training Program
The focus of the program is to prepare residents for a lifetime of quality practice either in primary care pediatrics or in the subspecialty of their choosing. During the course of the program, residents assume increasing responsibility for patient care, acquiring clinical expertise, knowledge, and skills along the way. Emphasis is placed on providing a balanced training program that ensures that residents will be able to undertake independent medical practice in today's rapidly changing healthcare environment.

The MCH Residency Program Course of Study
The Pediatric Residency Training Program at Miami Children's Hospital is designed in accordance with the American Board of Pediatrics requirement of three core years in general pediatrics and is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

First Year (PL1)
The first year of training emphasizes general pediatrics with supervision by senior residents and attending physicians. The PL1 resident performs the initial history, physical examination and, after discussion with the senior resident and attending physician, writes the appropriate orders, performs required procedures and is responsible for conveying information to the patient's parents. The team of residents is supervised by a geographic full-time attending physician and a teaching attending physician from the community. The residents' rotations include experience in primary care, newborn nursery, emergency medicine, and clinics.

Second Year (PL2)
The residents are provided with progressively increased patient care responsibilities and structured exposure to specialties, including pediatric, neonatal and cardiac critical care, emergency medicine, and adolescent medicine. Elective blocks are included in the second year curriculum.

Third Year (PL3)
Senior residents have additional supervisory roles and further integrate knowledge and skills needed in general pediatric practice. Residents are offered approved electives during the third year as recommended by the ACGME. The residents obtain experience in care of healthy newborns and perinatology. The experiences in the third year include preventive medicine, community outreach and complex tertiary care. The program's curriculum focuses on the integration of clinical, psychosocial, behavioral, and developmental skills promulgated by a series of lectures, conferences, seminars and other educational activities that complement bedside teaching and the practical experience gained by the residents during clinical rotations.

Additional Educational Opportunities

Pediatric Simulation Lab
The Pediatric Simulation Lab is a new addition at Miami Children's Hospital. The Hospital has acquired a Human Patient Simulator (HPS) from METI™, called the PediaSim. The training program is run by a full-time simulation educator, under the direction of the Medical Education Department. Through this program, residents can be tested for mandatory competencies, practice difficult techniques and work with a team under emergent scenarios to test their skills, all without having to worry about harming the "patient." Residents may also become members of the Simulation Task Force at MCH and may offer to assist with the development of new and interesting scenarios.

Teaching Conferences
Miami Children's Hospital offers Continuing Medical Education (CME), weekly Grand Rounds presentations, professorial rounds and radiology rounds. In addition, MCH sponsors numerous Continuing Medical Education programs throughout the year, including the Annual Pediatric Postgraduate Course which has become an outstanding, world-recognized conference. These courses are a part of the residents' curriculum.

The Annual Pediatric Postgraduate Course is regarded as one of the most established independent CME programs in the country. The course aims to provide a state-of-the-art continuing medical education forum of general pediatrics and pediatric subspecialties to advance best clinical practices, latest research developments, and child advocacy. It is part of MCH's commitment to promoting worldwide the educational development of medical professionals serving children.

Faculty from all over the U.S. and the world are invited to participate and present the practicing pediatrician with the most recent advances that directly impact the practice of pediatrics. It is here that approximately 1,000 participants, including pediatric residents and fellows, are exposed to the world's foremost teachers who have proven ability to translate theoretical information to the practical level of day-to-day pediatric care.

A component of the Postgraduate Course is the Annual Board Review Course. This program is designed as a comprehensive review for pediatricians who are preparing for the American Board of Pediatrics certification or recertification examination. Third year residents are required to attend the course in addition to attending weekly review sessions (that are required all three years of training). This approach is one of the factors contributing to the high scores received by MCH residents on the American Board of Pediatrics Intraining Examinations and high passing rates on the board exams. In fact, of the 2002 graduates, 100 percent who took the Pediatric Board Exam passed on their first attempt.

The hospital also sponsors the Annual Postgraduate Child Neurology Course and the Annual Childhood Cancer Treatment Seminar in cooperation with the Florida Association of Pediatric Tumor programs. In all, the hospital sponsors six CME activities throughout the year.

To further disseminate the latest breakthroughs in pediatrics, the hospital publishes its own medical journal. International Pediatrics is distributed to pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists in more than 20 countries and includes articles on current medical topics aimed at enhancing pediatric medical practice. Residents are expected and encouraged to publish their clinical experiences in the journal.

Research
Residents are encouraged to participate in research protocols and publish papers or present abstracts during their training program. The Miami Children's Hospital Clinical Research Center provides the infrastructure and services necessary for the hospital's clinical and translational research activities. While Miami Children's Hospital is devoted to healing young patients, it is also working to make the future brighter for children with medical problems.

By pursuing over 200 innovative research projects, a diversified team of scientists, physicians and other healthcare professionals at Miami Children's Hospital Clinical Research Center are seeing breakthroughs in diagnosis, prevention, treatment and cure of childhood diseases. There are active translational research programs including alternative medicine. Clinical research studies, which test new diagnostic procedures, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, biologics and interventional procedures, as well as outcomes research, occur throughout Miami Children's Hospital, and are conducted by the MCH Clinical Research Center. Departments that are especially active in clinical research include radiology, cardiology, neurosciences, nephrology, and hematology-oncology. Miami Children's Hospital is also a full member of the Children's Oncology Group, a federally-funded consortium of pediatric hospitals and pediatric departments conducting a large array of clinical research studies to advance treatment of childhood cancers.

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This information is reposted with thanks to Miami Children's Hospital.