Kaiser Permanente Northern California is a large tertiary care center for pediatrics, located in the heart of Oakland, California. The hospitalists serve an extremely diverse and highly complex patient population, comprised of general, subspecialty, and surgical pediatric patients. Our medical center developed a new pediatric cardiac surgery program, which successfully opened in early 2019. Our mission is to train highly qualified pediatric hospitalists who not only possess a wide breadth of clinical skills, but are also passionate about patient safety, quality improvement, resident/junior learner education, and express a desire to become administrative leaders and researchers.
Program Structure
The two-year ACGME accredited fellowship seeks to strike a balance between developing a robust hospitalist skillset and pursuing additional projects in the fellow’s particular area of interest. There are three tracks offered to our fellows, the first two involve dedicating time toward either a career in medical education or research. The third track allows our fellows to pursue a Masters Degree in Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley during the fellow’s second year of training. We are proud to maintain close working relationships with our nearby academic medical centers and our fellows are able to do both ward and PICU rotations at the UCSF Medical Center.
The fellowship curriculum is based on the ACGME and PHM competencies, with a focus on three major training areas:
- Core Clinical Curriculum: (inpatient medicine, Wards/PICU) the goal being to teach evidence-based medicine and apply this to common pediatric diagnoses as well as specialty and surgical cases. Procedural skills and effective teaching habits are also focused on during the fellows core clinical curriculum.
- Research/Quality Improvement: fellows will be paired with one or more research mentors with a goal of completing a scholarly project or research project during their fellowship. The project will be chosen by the fellow.
- Individualized curriculum: fellow selected electives to strengthen and broaden their education. Our fellowship offers electives in Pediatric Palliative Care, Infectious Disease, Cardiology, Neurology, Anesthesiology, Radiology, Gastroenterology, Pulmonology, Hematology-Oncology, Rheumatology, Nephrology, Transport/Sedation, Well Baby Nursery, NICU, PICU.
*Depending on which track the fellow chooses, they will complete a total of 32 weeks core curriculum, 32 weeks of Research/Quality Improvement (or completion of an MPH program the 2nd year) and 32 weeks of individualized curriculum and 8 weeks of vacation over the 2 year fellowship.
The clinical rotations are centered at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Oakland and are actively supervised by the fellowship administration and the Pediatric Hospital Based Specialists.
However, fellows are encouraged to spend time at nearby community hospitals or academic centers if they are interested and may spend time at UCSF, Kaiser Permanente Walnut Creek or San Leandro.
Career development and leadership skills will develop through clinical curriculum but also through a variety of faculty development opportunities. The fellows will run mock codes and lead monthly morbidity and mortality seminars. They will participate in the Fellows’ College with other fellows at UCSF. They will also be supported and given the opportunity to attend national conferences, including the annual PHM & AAP conferences. The fellows can attend department meetings and will be mentored on joining applicable committees with their quality improvement or career interests in mind.
Scholarship is an extremely important aspect of the fellowship, fellows will complete a scholarly project of their choice during their two year fellowship. Click here for more information: PHM fellowship
Some Perks
- Competitive PGY4 & 5 salary in the beautiful Bay Area
- Funding provided for PALS, NRP & State licensing fees
- Funding provided for attendance at national conferences, PHM, AAP, Fellows Conference
- Opportunity to complete MPH at Cal Berkeley with funding provided during second year
How to Apply
We are currently accepting one fellow per year via the NRMP Pediatric Specialties Fall Match. Applicants will need to register for the match. We are participating in ERAS and the following documents will need to be uploaded to your ERAS account:
- Curriculum vitae
- One page statement outlining applicant’s interest in PHM fellowship training at Kaiser Oakland, special interests in hospital medicine and career goals
- Three Letters of recommendation (one must be from applicant’s residency program director)
For more information, please feel free to contact the following individuals:
Program Director: Ritu Patel, MD Ritu.J.Patel@kp.org
Associate program Director: Miranda Kane, DO Miranda.D.Savani@kp.org
GME Program Administrator: Susan Valienzi-Johnson Susan.X.Valienzi-Johnson@kp.org
We look forward to meeting you.
Ritu J Patel, MD
PHM Fellowship Program Director
Kaiser Oakland Medical Center