Education & Training

Unique Aspects of Duke's Pediatric Residency Program

A variety of unique programs, courses, and facilities combine to make Duke's Pediatrics Residency a strong program.

Duke Children's Hospital and Health Center

The major site of training is Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center, located within the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. Duke Children's Hospital serves as both a primary care facility and a referral center for patients from North Carolina and throughout the Southeast. Each year, there are over 5,000 inpatient pediatric admissions, 2,500 deliveries, and 176,000 pediatric ambulatory visits.

Advocacy and Community Pediatric Outreach Rotation

The advocacy and community pediatrics outreach rotation is designed to enhance resident education by providing pediatric residents exposure to community health education, home needs assessment, and pediatric advocacy. Some of the specific experiences include home visits, developing community education workshops, teaching an educational curriculum at a local elementary school, working with community pediatricians, and helping mothers register for the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) Program.

Related Article
Read an article about why pediatric residents at Duke now complete a special rotation called "Docs for Tots." This four-week rotation helps young doctors become patient advocates by exposing them to the social, environmental and cultural factors lower-income patients contend with that contribute to health issues.

Child Abuse Rotation

Residents work with the physicians and social workers to assess suspected victims of child abuse and neglect. The residents observe interviews with patients and families, participate in the physical examination, and attend conferences and legal proceedings, when appropriate. Most residents will spend two to four weeks in this rotation.

International Health Rotation

The Duke Pediatrics Residency training program is committed to providing opportunities to allow our trainees to become globally experienced, socially responsible, service-oriented citizens so that they may make a lifelong commitment toward reducing the burden of disease and health inequalities. Our current programs allow for short term global health electives for one to two months. This immersion experience allows our residents to experience clinical care and, on occasion, research in other countries. Opportunities exist in many sites and are expanding throughout Central and South America, sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Australia where Duke has long-term commitments.

Newborn Care Rotation

The newborn rotation is a transitional elective that can be taken as a part of parental leave. The focus of the rotation will be on normal newborn care and resources in the community available to babies and their parents. The rotation will be up to one block in length and will be free from call and weekend duties. Residents on the rotation will still attend their weekly continuity clinic.

Evidence Based Medicine (EBM)

Evidence-based medicine is woven into multiple facets of resident education in order to emphasize it as a method of continuous learning, rather than an isolated set of skills. EBM morning reports are held twice per month. During these sessions, a senior pediatric or medicine/pediatrics resident leads the group through the evidence-based cycle of assessing a patient, asking a clinical question, acquiring the evidence, appraising the evidence, and applying the evidence back to the patient. Each presenter will choose a different EBM concept to emphasize in a brief didactic talk at the end of the session. Core topics covered by the EBM curriculum include:

1. Formulating a clinical question using PICO
2. Therapy
3. Harm

4. Diagnosis

5. Prognosis

6. Systematic Reviews

These core concepts will then be applied throughout residency training. In particular, senior residents on the wards are encouraged to identify a clinical question for each patient admitted and then use the medical literature to answer the question in a senior note.

History of Medicine

This is a one-month elective where residents develop a deeper understanding of the major themes in the history of American Pediatrics. A general pediatrician with a doctorate in history mentors residents as they conduct a literature search to explore the historical background of a particular area of interest.

Lincoln Community Health Center (LCHC)

Lincoln Community Health Center is located in downtown Durham near North Carolina Central University. The clinic offers a range of health care services, including medical, surgical, nutritional, dental, social, mental health, family care nursing, OB-GYN services, and "Teen Clinics." The Pediatric Clinic at Lincoln is a primary care pediatrics facility. Upper level residents serve an essential role at Lincoln, operating independently with support from attending pediatricians in the clinic.

Neurodevelopmental Pediatrics, Lenox Baker Children’s Hospital (LBCH)

LBCH is a part of the Duke University Medical Center and serves as a multidisciplinary rehabilitation center for children with disabilities or those with chronic illnesses. The resident will also participate in various specialized clinics (e.g, autism clinic, scoliosis clinic, myelodysplasia clinic, dental clinic, Trisomy 21 clinic, orthopedic clinic, ophthalmology clinic, urodynamics lab, and rhizotomy clinic).

SCOPE: Teaching Outside the Box

The “SCOPE” of pediatric medical education clearly extends beyond the diagnosis and treatment of individual patients. In addition to medical knowledge and patient care, pediatric residents are expected to demonstrate competency in interpersonal skills and communication, professionalism, and systems-based practice. Our graduates need to have a solid understanding of the financial, ethical, legal, and professional obligations of providing medical care in a safe environment. Pediatric residents must also acquire the skills needed to share knowledge effectively and teach future generations of pediatricians. The Duke Residency Training Program has designed the SCOPE curriculum to address these important “non-traditional” learning goals.

SCOPE sessions occur two afternoons each month for residents on elective rotations. The sessions are three-hour small group seminars in which faculty members from various departments within Duke University facilitate group learning. In addition to faculty, sessions may incorporate standardized patients, legal experts, and core safety team members. The SCOPE curriculum incorporates the following elements:

Safety and Risk Management
Communication and Teaching
Operational finance and Business of Medicine
Professionalism
Ethics

Sports Medicine

This is a one-month elective where residents work with a general pediatrician who specializes in Sports Medicine and also serves as the team physician for the Duke Women’s NCAA Division I basketball and field hockey teams. Residents learn to effectively conduct a complete musculoskeletal examination and develop a deeper understanding of diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and radiological evaluation of common health-related conditions pertaining to athletes.