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Our Curriculum

PL-1 Rotations

As a Primary Care Track (PCT) resident, your rotations are similar to the Categorical and LAUnCH Tracks. You will have monthly rotations with a mix of inpatient and outpatient months.

We offer two unique curricular adaptations during your intern year: 

Providing an Early Foundation

PCT Residents rotate through three core outpatient experiences in their intern year, giving them a solid foundation for their consolidated outpatient time in the 2nd and 3rd years. 

  • Development Foundation: You will rotate through outpatient development clinics, including the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorder (CASD). 
  • Adolescent Foundation: Your intern year includes a foundational month in Adolescent Medicine, unique to the Primary Care Track as the other tracks have this as a senior rotation. You will see patients during your Adolescent rotation at a co-located primary care location dedicated to caring for children and adolescents.  In your second and third years, you will build on this foundation during your immersive senior rotations with us, with dedicated Adolescent Clinic time.
  • Primary Care Block: You will spend one month at CNPA Foggy Bottom building your patient panel, participating in our academic half days and learning the ropes and roles of everyone on our clinic team.

Close Mentorship

All three tracks get one month in their main outpatient clinic site. In the PCT, you are paired with one primary 3rd year preceptor who will be dedicated to supervising and teaching you for that one month. This learning dyad (pair) is a powerful way to get you started with primary care pediatrics.

PL-2 and PL-3 Rotations

Residents spend two immersive five-month blocks at the Children’s National Pediatricians and Associates (CNPA), Foggy Bottom clinic: one in the 2nd year and one in the 3rd year. In traditional residency curricula, it is difficult to maintain continuity due to monthly switches to other rotations. Our unique curricular enhancement boosts continuity of care – allowing you to develop relationships with patients of all ages (birth to 21 years). You will see these patients in every aspect of outpatient primary care pediatrics: from well child care, acute care, chronic disease management and evaluation and treatment of common mental health concerns. Working side by side with attending physicians, your experience will give you a full view of how an outpatient primary care medical home functions including: referrals to specialists, coding and billing and the business aspects of primary care.

    8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

    Clinic Schedule

    During regular patient sessions, you will see up to eight patients per session as a PL-2 and up to 10 patients per session as a PL-3. We blend supervision with preceptors with increasing autonomy as you advance in your training.

    Continuity Clinic

    Continuity clinic is a constant “home” during your three years in the primary care track, even during your outpatient block. Each continuity clinic starts with a 30-minute learning event tailored to common well child care guidelines and outpatient diagnoses. 

    Elective (REACH)

    One and a half days is given each week in your second year and one full day in your third year to structure as you choose to pursue advocacy, policy, global health, research projects or subspecialty clinic work. It can be part of a REACH project or simply elective or selective time. You have the flexibility and independence to meet any individualized curriculum or pathway you choose from the Primary Care Track.

    Development/Behavior/Mental Health Curriculum

    Primary Care Pediatrics is filled with concerns that span a continuum from early childhood development delay to mental health concerns in adolescence. We have designed an integrated curriculum that includes:

    Developmental Pediatrics

    Combined with early rotation in Development your intern year, several key conferences address approaches to evaluation of developmental delay. Our well child supervision visits include evidence based screening tools to detect developmental concerns early. 

    Behavior Seminar

    These seminars are included in the Wednesday morning didactic curriculum and are led by a local leader in early childhood behavior. After completing these seminars, you can confidently discuss common concerns related to sleep, toilet training, feeding, discipline and temperament. 

    Child Psychiatry/Mental Health

    Wagner Wednesday didactics have included training in the most common mental health concerns, ADHD, Depression, and Anxiety for decades. In January 2023, in partnership with CNH Child Psychiatry, PCT residents consult on a patient with mild to moderate mental health concerns at Psychiatry Consult Clinic (PCC). Thereafter, the resident implements the management plan and provides longitudinal care at CNPA Foggy Bottom.  A hybrid, interdisciplinary Primary Care Mental Health Case Conference occurs weekly to bi-weekly.

    Mentor Meeting

    Once a week, each resident meets with one of our faculty to review cases, discuss career plans and conduct literature searches on clinical questions that arise from patients seen in the practice.