Clinical Experiences
In our program, you will have the opportunity to care for a wide range of patients. You will care for patients with lots of general pediatrics problems such as new-onset diabetes, asthma, and dehydration, and you will also care for children with complex medical conditions who are referred from hospitals around the state and region. Our patient population is also socio-economically and ethnically diverse.
Inpatient Pediatrics
On the inpatient units, you will have the opportunity to care for children with the full range of pediatric illnesses, from bread-and-butter conditions to rare and complex diseases seen in tertiary care hospitals like ours. The inpatient beds in our children’s hospital and NICU total 114, not including the newborn nursery.
We are very proud of our new, free-standing American Family Children’s Hospital (AFCH), which opened in 2007. This facility was designed to provide state-of–the-art care for patients and families and is a child-friendly place to work. This year we are rolling out Healthlink, our electronic medical record, with the goal of enhancing the quality and safety of the care that we provide.
AFCH is a six-story, 84-bed facility that supports the full integration of clinical care, academic programs, and research initiatives to produce a state-of-the-art enterprise not found elsewhere in the region. The 22-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) is the major regional referral center for outlying communities and local hospitals. Many seriously ill or injured patients are transported to the PICU from around the state via UW Hospital's Med Flight helicopter. AFCH also includes a bone marrow transplant unit and has the capability of administering novel therapies such as MIBG for patients with neuroblastoma.
In the past year, we have also expanded our hospitalist program and we now have three outstanding teachers leading the inpatient teams. We are expanding our family-centered rounds initiative and pursuing novel ways to improve resident education, including the use of simulation.
The UW’s women and infant program is based at Meriter Hospital, our community partner hospital. The new, state-of-the-art NICU opened in the spring of 2007. Our Level 3 NICU provides care for over 450 neonates per year.
Outpatient Pediatrics
General Pediatrics Experiences
Our general pediatrics services extend across Dane County, including 9 primary care clinic sites. Residents have their weekly continuity clinic in these settings and benefit from working with excellent clinicians and role models and seeing a diverse range of patients from all walks of life. In the first half of the PL-1 year, all interns spend a block on the Continuity Clinic Immersion month. This block is spent in the resident’s continuity site and is designed to help the resident understand how the clinics work. Residents work with the nurses and medical assistants and get experience administering immunizations and triaging phone calls.
Residents in our program also provide care for the underserved in Madison at South Madison Community Health Center (SMCHC). The SMCHC is home to a medical clinic, WIC program, Planned Parenthood, Dental services, Community Health library, and more. Several residents (particularly those fluent in Spanish) have their continuity clinic at this facility. The MEDIC Clinic, which is one of several Salvation Army clinics for the homeless in Madison, also provides care for women and children. This clinic is often staffed by volunteer pediatric residents and medical students.
Subspecialty Experiences
During the subspecialty rotations, a majority of your time will be spent in the outpatient setting. Our subspecialty outpatient clinics are primarily based at AFCH. Some unique experiences that we offer outside our AFCH subspecialty clinics include:
- Sports Medicine - The Sports Medicine Clinic at Research Park combines an expert team of sports medicine professionals and a state-of-the-art facility. We have outstanding pediatric sports medicine faculty and a highly competitive sports medicine fellowship. Residents on the musculoskeletal elective work closely with our pediatric sports medicine faculty, athletic trainers, physical therapists, exercise physiologists, nutritionists, and massage therapists. Interested residents can also serve as a “team physician” for local high schools, and provide physicals for UW athletes.
- Behavior/Development – We are pleased that residents have the opportunity to work at the Waisman Center, one of only nine University Centers for Excellence nationally in Developmental Disabilities, where our genetics, metabolism, and developmental clinics are housed. This facility also includes research centers that study normal development, developmental disabilities, and mental retardation.
Acute Care Experiences
In our program, you will see children with all types of acute and emergent problems. The University of Wisconsin is a Level 1 pediatric trauma center. You will gain skills in the initial assessment and triage of sick children and also learn the essentials of wound repair and other core pediatric procedural skills. In the emergency department, you will work with our pediatric emergency medicine specialists. In the Pediatric Afterhours Clinic (urgent care), which provides acute care for children in our health system, you will work with many of our academic general pediatricians. During the intern year, you will also learn the basics of phone call triage.