Rotations & Experiences

Inpatient Wards 

Our inpatient pediatric ward comprises three floors of Brenner Children's Hospital.

While on service, residents are exposed to both general pediatrics and subspecialty patients, including, cardiology, nephrology, rheumatology, gastroenterology, pulmonology, infectious diseases, neurology, and endocrinology. 

Additionally we also assist the various surgical specialties (ENT, Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, and Pediatric surgery) in the care of admitted patients.

We have three wards teams – one inpatient subspecialty team and two general pediatrics teams. The subspecialty team is comprised of a second and a third year resident, while our general pediatrics teams are comprised of one second or third year and two interns. Interns act as the primary physician and point of contact for patients and their families. Our upper level residents are given autonomy to run their team with guidance from our hospitalist and subspecialty faculty. Faculty members are in-house during the day and from 5pm – 12am overnight but are otherwise available by page. The average intern load through the course of the year is five to eight patients. 

Pediatric Intensive Care Unit 

Upper level residents rotate through our PICU during their second and third years of residency.

While in the PICU residents cover a variety of patients including trauma, respiratory failure, post-transplant, congenital heart defects, ECMO, etc. While on the rotation residents are encouraged to perform procedures and assist in our sedation suite. 

Neonatal Intensive Care Units 

Our NICU experience occurs between the two hospitals: Forsyth Medical Center and Brenner Children's Hospital. Both NICUs serve as Level IV units, however Brenner Children's Hospital NICU offers subspecialty pediatric care including, pediatric surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, and ECMO.

While at Forsyth, interns obtain delivery room experience and have the opportunity to participate in a number of procedures while working in the 56-bed unit. The experience at Brenner Children's differs in that only EXIT (EX utero Intrapartum Treatment) procedure deliveries occur in the building. Thus, the patients in the 35-bed intensive care unit and the 12-bed intermediate care unit are all referrals from nurseries and NICUs across the state. Thus, offering a very diverse patient population and pathology.

Pediatric Emergency Room 

The rapidly expanding pediatric emergency department at Brenner Children's Hospital offers our residents experience in caring for both emergencies and acute care visits. 

Our pediatric emergency department carries a Level I Trauma Center designation along with the Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma. 

We have more than 37,000 pediatric visits each  year through our 24 bed state-of-the-art ED that opened in March 2011. 

Our core faculty is comprised of 10 pediatric emergency department physicians all with specific fellowship training in pediatric emergency medicine. The department also offers a fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine, taking two fellows each year.

Subspecialty Clinics 

Subspecialty clinics take place daily in the pediatric outpatient clinic, with more than 25,000 visits annually.

We offer all major sub-specialties, as well as housing several multidisciplinary clinics such as Brenner FIT, Kids Eat, Cystic Fibrosis clinic, Cleft clinic which allow families to bring their child in on one day to see all of their various subspecialty providers. 

Newborn Nursery 

The Newborn Nursery is located in Forsyth Medical Center, a 961-bed facility with over 7,000 deliveries each year.

Residents work with our general pediatrics faculty to learn all of the aspects of newborn care. We establish continuity with these patients and follow them as outpatients at the Downtown Health Plaza, the residents’ clinic site. 

Continuity Clinic & Ambulatory Pediatrics 

Each house officer is assigned to Continuity Clinic in the Downtown Health Plaza pediatric outpatient clinic facility. 

The Continuity Clinic is a high priority in our program, and residents at all levels are relieved of other duties to attend the clinic throughout the year. Once assigned to a certain clinic day, residents maintain their clinic group throughout their 3 years of residency, building close relationships with the continuity clinic faculty and other residents that share the same day. 

Patients include newborns from our nursery at Forsyth Medical Center, all the way through adolescent visits. 

As dedicated pediatricians we strive to provide a medical home for our patients, especially those with chronic medical conditions. In addition to well child care, we provide follow-up visits for inpatient and emergency department discharges, and acute sick visits. Approximately 60% of the patient population is Hispanic and interpreters are an integral part of our patient care team.