Curriculum Overview

Each year of residency consists of thirteen, four-week block rotations. Residents have varying schedules based on their training track, with each providing an excellent foundation in general and subspecialty pediatric care. All residents are assigned to a continuity clinic, where they spend half-day each week throughout all three years of training learning primary care through longitudinal care of patients.

Intern Year Rotations

• Inpatient Wards: 5 blocks
  • Inpatient Ward Blocks: 2 Hospitalist, 1 Pulmonary & Adolescent, 1 Gastroenterology, 1 Neurology
• Night team on Inpatient Wards: 1.5-2 blocks (in 2-week segments)
• NICU (at GWU): 1 block
• Newborn Nursery (at Holy Cross Hospital): 1 block
• Emergency Department: 0.5-1 block
• Ambulatory Care: 1-2 blocks
• Elective/Selective: 1 block
• Vacation: 5 weeks (in 2-week segments)

Second Year Rotations

• Inpatient Wards - Supervisory: 1-2 blocks (on Hospitalist service)
• Inpatient Wards – 2^nd year resident team only: 2 blocks
  • Inpatient Ward Blocks: 1 Cardiology & Renal block, 1 Hematology & Oncology block
• Night team on Inpatient Wards – Supervisory: 1-1.5 blocks (in 2-week segments)
• NICU (at CNH): 1 block
• PICU (at CNH): 1 block
• Emergency Department: 0.5-1 block
• Ambulatory Adolescent: 1 block
• Ambulatory Care: 1-5 blocks
• Elective/Selective: 1.5 block
• Vacation: 1 block (in 2-week segments)

Third Year Rotations

• Inpatient Wards - Supervisory: 2 blocks (Hospitalist and/or Subspecialty service)
• Night team on Inpatient Wards – Supervisory: 0.5-1 block (in 2-week segments)
• NICU (at CNH): 1 block
• PICU (at CNH): 1 block
• Emergency Department: 0.5-1 block
• Ambulatory Development: 1 block
• Elective/Selective: 3-4 blocks
• Vacation: 1 block (in 2-week segments)

Take a look at our Residency Curriculum Grid to get more details about our rotation schedule and compare the residency training track curricula. 

• Inpatient Wards: Each team consists of 1-2 interns with 1 senior resident (PL-3), 1 attending and 1-3 medical students. Some services also have a fellow. Interns are the primary caregivers for all patients. We have a day and night shift schedule (therefore avoiding the “q3-4 24-hr" schedule) during the week. Daytime hours are typically 6 a.m. – 5 p.m. with Night team hours 5 p.m. – 6 a.m. Interns work 24 hour shifts on weekends only during inpatient wards. During each month of inpatient wards, interns are scheduled for “float week”. This week consists of outpatient experiences related to the inpatient team you are in to help residents gain exposure to both inpatient and outpatient pediatric care. It also guarantees that every intern has one 3-day weekend during each inpatient ward block. 
• Night Team - Inpatient Wards: Each team consists of 1 intern and 1 senior resident (PL-2 or PL-3). Nights offer an excellent time for autonomy and teaching. 
• Emergency Department: Our Emergency Department is very busy with incredible opportunities for resident learning and procedures. It is a Level 1 Trauma Center with 3 code bays. Residents work 2-week blocks in the ER, completing 7-8 shifts per block. Shifts are 10 hours long. There are dedicated procedure shifts where residents are only suturing, removing foreign bodies, performing LP’s and helping to splint and cast. We also encourage resident involvement in codes and traumas with designated roles as you progress throughout residency.
• Newborn Nursery at Holy Cross Hospital: Interns spend time examining healthy newborns and treating common problems in the neonate during this month. There is also a dedicated “delivery week” where residents exclusively attend deliveries – providing excellent neonatal resuscitation training.
• NICU: Interns complete 1 block at George Washington University NICU which serves as an introduction to NICU and provides excellent delivery room and resuscitation experience. At GWU NICU, you work on a team with 2-3 interns, 1 NICU fellow and 1 NICU attending. You have 1-2 long calls and 1 week of nights.
  • PL2’s and PL3’s complete NICU at Children’s National Hospital. Residents work on a team of 2-3 PL-2 and PL-3 residents with 1 NICU fellow and 1 NICU attending. The call schedule includes 1-2 long calls and 3-4 nights. Our NICU is a 70-bed unit and major referral center for the East Coast that has been ranked #1 by US News World and Report. The NICU is another place where residents gain a ton of procedural experience!
• PICU: PL-2 and PL-3 residents complete PICU at Children’s National. You work on teams with 2-3 PL-2 and PL-3 residents, 1 PICU fellow and 1 attending. Our PICU is a very 46-bed unit with ECMO program. Some of our best learning and procedures occur during our PICU rotation. PICU call schedule includes 2-3 long calls and 4-5 night shifts.
• Hematology and Oncology: This is a PL2-only rotation where residents spend time on both our inpatient Hematology and Oncology teams. We have a busy Hematology department with a large population of sickle cell disease patients in addition to a variety of other blood dyscrasia patients. Our Oncology team is another active service with excellent learning from incredible Oncology specialists. Children’s National is a CAR-T cell therapy center. We have a separate BMT team that residents can choose to spend elective time working with.
• Cardiology and Nephrology: This is a PL2-only rotation where residents spend time on both our inpatient Cardiology and Nephrology teams. We have a wide variety of patients, including recent heart and kidney transplant patients that residents care for.
• Ambulatory Rotations: All residents spend 1 block in our ambulatory Adolescent clinic and ambulatory Development clinic. Residents also spend outpatient time in their continuity clinics. These clinics include our in-hospital outpatient clinic, to community based-health centers, to suburban private practices. Residents have the opportunity to choose the continuity clinic site that best fits their individual interests.

Elective time is incredibly flexible to allow residents to gain experience in their individual areas of interest. We offer over 50 subspecialty clinics and consult teams that residents can choose to spend time in. Some of the most popular elective experiences include spending time with our Dermatology, Orthopedics, Psychiatry and Infectious Disease teams.

In addition to the clinic and consult team experiences, we have many unique elective opportunities which include:

• Cardiac Intensive Care Elective: Residents are given the opportunity to rotate through our cardiac intensive care unit where they serve as front line providers for  patients as an essential part of the medical care team, paying particular attending to pathophysiology and details of cardiac anatomy.
• Child and Adolescent Protection Center: Residents learn how to obtain data via an accurate history and a physical exam for a child with suspected abuse or neglect, as well as nuances of managing these complex situations.
• Child Health Advocacy Institute: The CHAI elective provides an introduction to basic advocacy tools and allows residents to focus on an issue important to child health via research and advocacy.
• Global Health Course Elective: This is a one-week course that exposes residents to global health issues including healthcare delivery, disease management and resource allocation incorporating leaders in the field.
• Health Policy Fellowship: This three-week course is spent at George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services where residents gain a basic understanding of the healthcare system in the United States and how policy shapes and influences healthcare practices.
• HSC Pediatric Center Elective: At HSC, residents are given a more in-depth understanding of the care of children with medical complexity and technology dependence. Residents work with interprofessional team members including physical therapy, occupational therapy, recreation therapy, speech and language therapy, nutrition services, social work and case management to optimize the care of children with special healthcare needs.
• Medical Transport Elective: Residents spend time with our medical transportation team, learning how to manage triage in outside facilities and safely bring patients to Children’s National for further care via helicopter or ambulance.
• Ultrasound Elective: Residents spend one to two weeks learning to use bedside ultrasound to gather and interpret their own imaging data to answer specific focused clinical questions.
• AAP Federal Affairs Internship: Residents may apply for this  month-long elective experience at the national AAP office right here in Washington, D.C.