Pediatrics Oakland - Curriculum and Rotation Schedule

In 2022 our program transitioned to Academic Half Day to deliver didactic teaching to our residents. Our resident get 4 hours of protected time weekly where they get to participate in interactive lectures, team based learning, and simulation. Antibiotic stewardship rounds, EID focused talks and workshops, PICU and NICU mock codes, procedure workshops, didactics lead by our subspeciality attendings, multidisciplinary teaching and wellness sessions are some of the things our residents get to participate in during Academic Half Day.

In addition to the protected 4 hours, our residents have an opportunity to participate in and give Pediatric Grand Rounds, Morbidity and Mortality Conference and various other talks arranged by region wide The Permanente Medical group (i.e. Regional Pediatric Hospitalist talks, Hospital Wide Grand Rounds)

In 2019 our program initiated an exciting change to our resident scheduling model. Instead of the typical 4 week blocks with half day of continuity clinic, we redesigned our schedule so that our resident would complete 3-4 week rotations followed by a full week of clinic. This allows our residents to more fully focus on the rotation which they are participating and patients they are caring for, whether inpatient or outpatient.

The clinic weeks are spaced to allow our residents to see their continuity patients more easily for their regular well visits. During each clinic week, we have built in our REACH curriculum and individualized curriculum time such as lactation, casting room, transgender clinic, high risk infant clinic and more!

Residents have continuity clinics based at one of our Kaiser East Bay campuses in Oakland, Berkeley, Pinole, or San Leandro. Every morning starts with a virtual 30 minute teaching conference focused on outpatient care. Each resident carries their own panel of patients that they follow over all 3 years of residency. Many become providers for newborn patients from their well-baby nursery and NICU experiences. Senior residents have concentrated experiences in serving as junior preceptors as well as a rotation at Kaiser Richmond, where they act as junior staff pediatricians. Residents see a breadth of normal well children and many common outpatient urgent complaints.  Residents also learn to communicate with their patients through telephone, secure email messaging, and video-based encounters, reflecting practical training for the next generation of pediatric practitioners.

Emergency room longitudinal experiences continue throughout residency, beginning in the PGY-1 year, as our ward residents consult on pediatric patients in our Kaiser Oakland emergency room. During the PGY-2 year, residents rotate at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland Emergency Room, offering an excellent community based pediatric ER experience that includes trauma and general pediatric care. Finally, the PGY-3 educational experience continues with a focused rotation at the Kaiser Oakland and Richmond Emergency Departments. In this setting, residents have the opportunity to do a large number and variety of procedures in the minor injury clinics, function as consulting providers for acute and emergent care in the ED setting, and work individually with emergency medicine faculty.

Our inpatient training is focused at Kaiser Oakland Medical Center, on the pediatric ward, NICU, well baby nursery, and PICU. Our busy 35-bed pediatric ward as an excellent mix of general pediatrics, subspeciality pediatrics and surgical patients. The residents manage the wards under the guidance of a pediatric hospital-based attending who is in-house 24 hours a day. Resident autonomy is developed through senior resident leadership and family centered rounds.

Our NICU is a 24-bed level III NICU. Kaiser Oakland Medical Center is a high-risk obstetric referral center for the region, providing residents with the opportunity to develop excellent skills in neonatal resuscitation and critical care. Direct teaching and guidance from our team of Neonatologists and Neonatal Hospitalist and NPs afford our trainees excellent skill building. In contrast, our well baby rotation is an opportunity to care for a large number of healthy newborns from a diverse patient population. Residents will attend routine and high-risk deliveries, gaining skills in neonatal resuscitation. Residents also gain skills in performing circumcisions, providing breastfeeding counseling.

Finally, our PICU is a 12-bed unit with a mix of medical and surgical patients, including post cardiac surgery patients. Our group of Critical Care attendings provide training focused on critical thinking at the bedside through one-on-one interactions.

Our residents participate in radiology rounds weekly when on inpatient rotations. There are formal teaching sessions on each rotation, for example morning talks by Critical Care attendings and ward level simulation run by Hospitalists.

Our residents have dedicated elective time starting as interns as well as individualized curriculum time during their clinic weeks, to help customize their residency experience towards the future goals. They have opportunities of training in a breadth of subspecialities, as well as opportunities to do electives in advocacy, research, quality improvement, and teaching. With our partnership with various institutions and medical centers around Northern California, our residents are able to do subspeciality rotations at other sites. With our small program size, we can work with our residents to help create unique elective opportunities based on their interest. The COVID-19 pandemic put a halt on our global health rotations, and we are working this year to build those relationships and bring our global health rotations back.