Frequently Asked Questions - Categorical Track

Categorical Track graduates enter into a wide variety of careers. Many decide to specialize, while others become hospitalists, go into primary care, pursue Master’s degrees in public health or follow alternative career paths in health policy. There are multiple opportunities that are open to residents, and our faculty will provide the mentorship needed to make these decisions.

Children's National offers approximately 24 designated Categorical Track residency positions each year. Since the various tracks have separate match numbers, Categorical Track applicants may rank in one or all of the tracks at Children's National.

The Primary Care Track and Community Health Track (CHT), also known as Leadership in Advocacy, the Underserved, and Community Health Track (LAUnCH), are for residents with a particular interest in primary care pediatrics, advocacy and community pediatrics, respectively. Each of these tracks offer special rotations, seminars and extramural activities to augment training within the tracks, however many of those activities are open to residents of all tracks. For example, Categorical Track residents can take the Health Policy and Global Health electives, and those who are interested in primary care or community health can benefit from the mentorship available from faculty in the other tracks. Residents from the Categorical Track can also choose to participate in the Advocacy Rotation.

Categorical Track residents have the unique option of choosing among more than a dozen sites for continuity clinic. About two-thirds of the Categorical Track residents have weekly continuity clinic at Children’s Health Center (CHC), where they work closely with faculty in the model of primary care in a tertiary care setting. Each clinic session begins with didactic teaching, led by an attending or third-year resident. Residents at Children’s Health Center speak highly of the autonomy they are given there, with preceptors easily accessible for guidance.

The other continuity clinic sites for Categorical residents include community health centers, Latino neighborhood health centers, the Mobile Health Van and private suburban pediatric offices.

During ambulatory block time, Categorical residents rotate through Children’s Dental clinic, WIC (Women, Infants and Children) Program and Generations (teen parents) clinic. Categorical residents also act as Teaching Resident for four weeks during their third-year Children’s Health Center rotation, during which they precept medical students and give morning lectures to the students. Two weeks during the PL-2 and PL-3 years are spent as an urgent care resident, where residents see sick visits and follow-up on parent phone calls received by the on-call physician the night before.