Education

The Medical University of South Carolina Pediatric Education Program thrives in a responsive, continuously reinvigorated environment that expects, seeks out, and values innovative thinking, teaching, learning and research. The Department of Pediatrics dedicates needed resources to both teachers and learners and appreciatively measures and rewards effort and accomplishment. We provide a family – centered continuum of care that serves as an educational model for our graduates to emulate in their future careers. Our patients and their families identify trainees as integral to their medical care which, in turn, drives our sense of professionalism and passionate pursuit of knowledge and excellence. Our program is strengthened by the sense of family that extends throughout our training program, and includes our patients, families, the wider MUSC community, the South Carolina Lowcountry and beyond. Through close mentoring interactions with our trainees, faculty members are able to convey their joy and pride in our profession as well as ensure the development of the whole physician. We actively seek out opportunities to generate new knowledge through participation in healthcare research, thereby improving the health of current and future generations of children.

Superior education is the ultimate goal of the Department of Pediatrics. Our curriculum focuses on blending the educational experience of residency (in both pediatrics and medicine/pediatrics), third-year medical student core clerkship, fourth year student electives, pre-clinical core teaching, fellowships, and continuing education. The program utilizes principles of adult learning to prepare each trainee for the educational challenges they will face in their future medical careers. This approach places significant responsibility on the trainee to effectively utilize the resources provided to them in order to reach their educational goals.

A major focus of the program is to foster and develop the teaching skills of all of the teachers (at every level) in the department. Residents benefit from guided instruction from our dedicated faculty while learning to become proficient educators themselves. This will help not only those individuals who plan careers in academic medicine, but also those planning to enter the clinical practice of pediatrics where they will continually be challenged to effectively teach patients, families, and staff members.

Rotation Schedule (PDF)

House officers at the PL-1 level are in their first year of pediatric training and function as the primary physicians on all rotations. During this time, the first-year resident becomes active in his/her continuity experience. The curriculum has been established to afford the resident with a balance of general and subspecialty rotations as outlined below.

During the second year of residency, PL-2, there is an increased emphasis on subspecialties. The PL-2 also takes on a supervisory role in the inpatient wards, the NICU, and the emergency room. These experiences are designed to foster the growth necessary to assume the broader supervisory roles of the third year. Under the guidance of a faculty member, second-years create an evidence-based medicine project that can be submitted to the annual Pediatric Academic Societies conference.

The third-year pediatric resident, PL-3, takes on an even greater role. The ward resident assumes a teaching role for the general inpatient services and acts as the admitting physician and general pediatrics consultant. These experiences are designed to expose the resident to new roles and greater responsibilities.

Through recent years, the Pediatrics Department has been actively engaged in creating and continuously expanding its Evidence Based Medicine component of Resident Education. All interns are given a brief introduction into the techniques for evaluating journal articles at the beginning of the year. They are then subsequently expected to present, critique, and assess the validity of the article(s) using those techniques.

The 2008-2009 academic year witnessed the unveiling of the Pediatric Simulation Laboratory. The state-of-the-art suite provides residents the opportunity to train and participate in mock codes using life-like simulation mannequins. Each mannequin provides real life experience with the ability to monitor vital signs, quality of chest compressions, and procedure practice. Training sessions are recorded and are available for resident review.

Finally, individual didactic sessions are provided by faculty of various departments while on service. This learning experience is supplemented with the addition of WebCT, an online database consisting of syllabi, reading materials, as well as individualized evaluation tools and quizzes tailored specifically to each rotation.