Frequently Asked Questions - Primary Care Track
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Why should I choose the Primary Care Track?
The Primary Care Track is a good choice if you enjoy close mentorship relationships, learning and providing care in one setting for a longer period of time than the typical one-month rotation and being part of a smaller learning community within a larger program. The track provides a unique opportunity to experience the responsibilities of a practicing pediatrician under the guidance of experienced clinicians.
What am I trading in if I am in the Primary Care Track instead of the Community Track or the Categorical Track?
Primary Care Track residents complete the same amount of neonatal and pediatric intensive care unit rotations and only one to two months less of inpatient rotations compared to residents in the other tracks. Rotations on subspecialty inpatient services are similar between all three tracks. For the most part, you are trading other outpatient experiences for the concentrated block of time at Children's National Pediatricians & Associates (CNPA).
What if I decide I want to do a fellowship or don’t want to pursue a career in primary care after all? Will I be limiting my post-residency choices by choosing the Primary Care Track?
No! Nearly half of our graduates enter careers outside primary care. Many choose to do fellowships (adolescent medicine, child advocacy and developmental pediatrics, allergy and immunology, emergency medicine, cardiology, neonatology and critical care). The primary care training in no way limits your post-residency choices.
What do residents use their weekly elective time for?
Residents have pursued child advocacy projects, such as working on Capitol Hill with legislators or the executive branch of the federal government, developing and delivering health education models at public schools, working in a law school on a child protection project and writing and receiving grants to provide outreach services in needy communities. Some residents have chosen to focus on improving care in our practice. One example is a resident project that involved researching office emergency preparedness and updating our code cart and emergency procedures. Residents also have chosen to use the time to attend outpatient subspecialty clinics at Children’s National such as Orthopaedics, Otolaryngology, Allergy and Immunology and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. Other residents chose to work on global health projects during this time. Those residents who do a REACH project use elective time to build on work they have already started.
What other experience will I get in the primary care track?
- CNPA Foggy Bottom has a co-located weekly Dermatology clinic where PCT residents see patients with the Chair of Pediatric Dermatology
- As PL-3, participate in telephone triage night call with pediatricians in the practice
- Participate in the Mental Health curriculum launched in 2023: regular behavior and mental health didactics and case conferences that include childhood development and child psychiatry; child psychiatry consults at Psychiatry Consultation Clinic for patients with mild to moderate concerns for whom you later care for, longitudinally
- See adolescents in weekly adolescent clinic, in addition to the regular flow of adolescent patients throughout the week
- Meet with an individual mentor weekly to review your own clinical questions that arise in the course of patient care
- Develop teaching skills by preparing and giving conferences (including the popular Pediatric Intensive Care/Primary Care Correlate conference) and develop senior supervisory skills through precepting PL-1s
- Utilize a fully implemented and integrated electronic health record for patient care, research and learning
Request Information
For more information please contact Jeannie Y. Chang Pitter, M.D. and Edward Sepe, M.D., co-directors of the primary care track. 2021 K Street NW, Suite 800 Washington, D.C. 20006.