Curriculum
The curriculum in the KU Medical School-Wichita Pediatric Residency Program meets standards established by the American Board of Pediatrics and the Residency Review Committee of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Our program is small enough to be flexible in scheduling electives to accommodate individual interests and educational needs, yet large enough provide a wide range of pathology and experience in both the inpatient and outpatient setting.
Curriculum For Three-year Pediatric Residency Program
| PL-1 | 4 months | Inpatient Service |
| 1 month | Normal Newborn | |
| 1 month | NICU | |
| 1 month | PICU | |
| 1 month | Sedation/Procedures | |
| 1 month | Pediatric Emergency Medicine | |
| 1 month | Adolescent Medicine | |
| 1 month | Ambulatory | |
| 1 month | Subspecialty Elective | |
| PL-2 | 2 months | Inpatient Service |
| 1 month | PICU | |
| 1 month | NICU | |
| 1 month | Sedation/Procedures | |
| 1 month | Community Medicine | |
| 1 month | Behavioral/Development | |
| 2 months | Acute Care Resident/Night Float | |
| 3 months | Subspecialty Electives | |
| PL-3 | 2 months | Inpatient Supervising (IPSR) |
| 1 month | Newborn Supervising | |
| 1 month | NICU | |
| 1 month | PICU (optional) | |
| 2 months | Acute Care Resident/Night Float | |
| 1 month | Emergency Dept. | |
| 4-5 months | Subspecialty Electives |
Rotations
Inpatient Service
Because of the hospital location, the referral area extends from the western border of Kansas, across part of Oklahoma, and includes the north-central area of the state. Residents experience a wide range of pathology with varying levels of acuity. Because of the program size, residents work directly with subspecialists and there are no fellows “competing” for patient care.
- The team consists of a senior resident (PGY-2 and a PGY-3), 3-5 junior residents (PGY-1) and 1-2 medical students.
- PGY-1 residents are expected to round on maximum of 8 patients per day.
- Residents provide care for the residency clinic, private pediatric and hospitalist service patients, as well as subspecialist patients and consults.
- Family-centered rounds, which include faculty attending(s), residents, pediatric pharmacist, and case manager (social worker).
- Clinical assistant available to aide residents in coordinating outpatient/inpatient care.
Sedations/Procedures
Along with taking part in a variety of procedures, residents on sedations are working alongside a pediatric intensivist and managing the sedation of patients. Residents also run a hospital-wide code scenario during this rotation.
- Team consists of PICU attending, a resident and dedicated nurses.
- Assist with administering medications for conscious/deep sedations.
- Participate in procedures, including: IV starts, bladder catheterization, lumbar punctures, as well as assist with bronchoscopies and EGDs, circumcision, and many other procedures.
- Afternoons are spent with pediatric surgeons, PT/OT and audiology/speech therapy.
PICU
KU-Wichita is one of the programs that allow first year residents to rotate in the PICU. This experience provides residents the opportunity to increase their knowledge base even more by the end of their first year.
- PICU team consists of PICU attending, 1-2 residents and medical students.
- PICU is a 12 bed unit.
- Ample experience with ventilators, procedures (central lines, intubations), and 2 CRRT (continuous renal replacement therapy) machines.
- Patient load is diverse, including: medical, trauma, surgical, and high acuity transfers from multiple outlying hospitals.
Night Shift / Acute Care Resident
- This rotation is divided into 2 weeks of night shift and 2 weeks as the acute care resident in the pediatric clinic.
- With support from pediatric intensivists and hospitalists, the night shift resident has experience in making autonomous decisions, in addition to supervising the junior resident.
- The acute care resident is in the clinic M-F primarily seeing sick visits.
Residents work in the dedicated pediatric ED as a team with the child life specialists, a skilled nursing staff and a pediatric emergency medicine attending.
- Level 1 Trauma Center and has the only Pediatric ED in Kansas.
- All shifts are covered during evenings and weekends and include no call responsibilities.
- The Pediatric ED provides ample opportunities for the performance of procedures, including: splinting, suturing, I&Ds, foreign body removals, LPs, intubations, bladder catheterization, and IV starts.
- The rotation includes ambulance ride-a-longs.
Ambulatory
Many of the clinics, including the obesity clinic, offer multidisciplinary care for patients in one visit. For example, patients are scheduled with their physician, a healthy steps coordinator and the dietician in one visit.
- Opportunity to gain solid understanding of outpatient general pediatrics.
- Experience in obesity clinic, telephone triage, hemoglobinapathy clinic, PKU, and failure-to-thrive clinic.
Community Medicine
- Opportunity to gain better understanding of available community resources, including SRS and WIC.
- Experiences consists of a pediatric dental clinic, underserved pediatric clinics, PKU clinic, child death review board, as well as child abuse, orthopedic, scoliosis, cerebral palsy and spina-bifida clinics.
- Partners with “Communities in Schools,” which is a volunteer program that provides medical screenings for elementary and middle school-aged children in the area.
- Experiences in the KU Adolescent Clinic, juvenile detention facility, and Judge Riddell’s Boys’ Ranch.
- Experience in STI testing, reporting, and counseling.
- Genetics tele-medicine and rheumatology clinics are also incorporated into this rotation.
Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics
- Exploring a wide range of services and diagnoses
- Working with the medical team at Heartspring, an inpatient and outpatient school/center for children worldwide with autism, mental retardation, and severe behavioral problems. Heartspring focuses on helping special needs children grow and learn to live more independently.
- ADHD and cognitive behavioral therapies are extensively explored.
- 1 faculty member board certified in: Pediatrics, Neurodevelopmental Disabilities and Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics.
- 1 faculty member board in: Pediatrics and Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics.
Newborn
Wesley Medical Center delivers more babies in a 13 state region. Because of this newborn rotation, we get the opportunity to be present for the baby’s first exam in the hospital and then continue to follow the family in our clinic.
- Team consists of 1 attending, 1 dedicated nurse practitioner, and 1-3 residents.
- Initial assessment of term to near term infants.
- Daily rounding of normal newborns and infants in the special care nursery.
- Triaging common postnatal medical problems.
- Ample opportunity for circumcisions.
NICU
Level III NICU.- 62 beds dedicated to premature and critically ill infants.
- Referral base for 23,000 deliveries across Kansas and surrounding states.
- One of over 360 centers included in the Vermont-Oxford DataBase.
- More than 750 admissions annually.
- Rounding on 6-8 patients one-on-one with a NICU attending.
- NICU attending in-house 24 hrs a day.
Electives
Residents select a minimum of four one-month rotations from the following required pediatric subspecialties:
- Allergy/Immunology
- Cardiology
- Endocrinology/Metabolism
- Gastroenterology
- Hematology/Oncology
- Infectious Disease
- Nephrology
- Neurology
- Pulmonology
The remaining subspecialty experience may be selected from the remaining subspecialties in the above list and from the following list:
- Child Psychiatry
- Critical Care (PICU)
- Dermatology
- Diabetes
- Genetics
- Ophthalmology
- Orthopedics
- Otolaryngology
- Pediatric Surgery
- Pharmacology
- Radiology
- Research
- Rheumatology
Call schedule
- A night shift system is in place for PGY-1, 2, and 3.
- PGY-1 night shift occurs during the inpatient service months.
- Private call rooms with a full bathroom and computer.
- Shifts are no longer than 14 hrs.
Conference and didactic schedule
- Daily conferences and didactics.
- Residents and faculty share the responsibility of teaching.
- Multiple lectures throughout the year from the pediatric subspecialists.
- Lunch is always provided.
Outpatient Pediatric Clinic
Continuity of patient care throughout the 3 years of residency- High level of autonomy, with supervision from attendings.
- The well-staffed, recently renovated clinic is within 3 blocks from Wesley Medical Center and mimics a group pediatric practice.
- Full electronic medical records with the option of remote access from home.
- 1 to 2 half-days of outpatient clinic per week.
