Residency program

Curriculum

The goal of the VCU Pediatric Residency Program at Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU is to provide residents with a comprehensive exposure to pediatrics. We believe that our curriculum provides the resident with broad knowledge in primary pediatric care while offering unique exposure to a wide variety of subspecialty services. Our pediatric ED facilities provide state-of-the-art training in advanced management of the pediatric emergency patient.

Residents choose the type and amount of subspecialties that they experience throughout their residency.

Curriculum block chart: Pediatrics

Block (4 weeks)	PGY-1	PGY-2	PGY-3
1	Inpatient wards	Inpatient wards	Inpatient wards
2	Inpatient wards	Inpatient wards/elective	Inpatient wards/elective
3	Inpatient wards	Night shift	Night shift
4	Inpatient hem/onc	NICU	NICU
5	Night shift	PICU	PICU
6	Night shift	PICU/elective	Ped ED
7	NICU	Ped ED	Outpatient primary care
8	NICU/outpatient surgery subspecialties	Outpatient primary care	Outpatient primary care
9	Newborn nursery	Inpatient hem/onc	Elective
10	Ped ED	Adolescent medicine	Elective
11	Outpatient primary care	Behavior and development	Elective
12	Evidence-based medicine/ child protection	Elective	Elective
13	Elective	Elective	Elective

Note: In addition, all PGY-2 and PGY-3 residents have half-day community experience or research experience on their outpatient rotations.

Average call frequency

The VCU Pediatric Residency Program at Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU fully agrees with the guidelines set forth by the ACGME for duty hours of resident physicians. In recognition of the need to have periods of time free from hospital obligations, each year you are given up to a maximum of four weeks call-free and several additional weeks with limited call responsibilities. We believe that this schedule maximizes the opportunities for learning, while simultaneously recognizing the lifestyle concerns inherent to a contemporary residency program.

Service	PGY-1		PGY-2		PGY-3
Service	Requirement	Call frequency	Requirement	Call frequency	Requirement	Call frequency
Pediatric wards	12 weeks (3 blocks)	No call	6 weeks	1 per week	6 weeks	1 per week
Newborn nursery	4 weeks	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
NICU	6 weeks	No call	4 weeks (5 shifts per week)	5:30 p.m. - 9 a.m. shifts	4 weeks	No call
PICU	N/A	N/A	6 weeks	Q3-5 days (max 2 per week)	4 weeks	Q3-5 days (max 2 per week)
Pediatric Emergency Department	4 weeks	17 shifts (12 hrs. per shift)	4 weeks	17 shifts (12 hrs. per shift)	4 weeks	17 shifts (12 hrs. per shift)
Subspecialty or outpatient	10 weeks	pull call	18 weeks	pull call, phone calls Average/mo. 4-8 pull calls 3-6 phone calls	26 weeks	pull call, phone calls Average/mo. 4-8 pull calls 3-6 phone calls
Inpatient hem/onc	4 weeks	No call	4 weeks	No call	N/A	N/A
Subspecialty or outpatient (call free)	4 weeks	No call	4 weeks	No call	4 weeks	No call
Night shift	8 weeks (5 shifts/wk.)	7 p.m. – 9 a.m. shifts	4 weeks (5 shifts/wk.)	7 p.m. – 9 a.m. shifts	4 weeks (5 shifts/wk.)	7 p.m. – 9 a.m. shifts

As indicated above, each resident will be periodically assigned to pull call on specific days during outpatient or specialty rotations. The resident assigned to pull call must be available by beeper in the event that a colleague becomes ill.

PGY-2 and PGY-3 residents are assigned periodically to after-hours phone triage (i.e., telephone calls) for the General Pediatrics Outpatient Clinic. This call is taken from home and will not require you to come in to the hospital.