Curriculum

During the first year, fellows will work directly with attending faculty on our general pediatric teaching services, inpatient complex care service, and surgical co-management teams with the primary goals of becoming strong clinical leaders of multidisciplinary teams and improving bedside teaching skills in the context of family-centered rounds. In addition, fellows will work with our critical care and sedation teams to further broaden their skills.

In the second year, fellows focus on developing further independence on the general pediatric and inpatient complex care teams and select additional clinical experiences tailored to their career interests. Experiences in newborn medicine, palliative care/pain medicine, and outpatient complex care are included in the second year. Fellows have four weeks of vacation each year.

In the final year, fellows spend the majority of their time on academic experiences tailored to their interests. Clinical time on hospital medicine resident teams is approximately 25% each year and the remainder of clinical / academic time varies by year. Fellows have four weeks of vacation yearly.

A multitude of non-clinical professional development curriculum options are available: fellows participate in an institutional fellowship curriculum, engage in dedicated divisional activities geared to fellows and junior faculty, and typically attend two national conferences yearly.

Academic Experiences

Our fellows are exposed to all academic facets of Pediatric Hospital Medicine – including clinical and health services research, quality improvement science, patient safety, medical operations, biomedical and clinical informatics, and medical education. With the guidance of a mentorship team and Scientific Oversight Committee, each fellow will choose an area for their primary academic focus in which to acquire additional advanced skills. The second and third years of fellowship allow for completion of a related master’s degree at the University of Cincinnati and deep, experiential learning through the conduct of academic projects that apply these skills.

Clinical and Health Services Research

• Most fellows interested in clinical and/or health services research complete the Master of Science in Clinical and Translational Research through the University of Cincinnati. This degree program offers a broad range of courses in clinical epidemiology, clinical effectiveness, molecular epidemiology, clinical trials, and translational research. Students in the degree program select a focus area that is tailored to the interests of the fellow. Certificate programs are available for special interest areas (e.g., biomedical informatics, health care administration, health care finance, health care policy).

Quality Improvement, Patient Safety, and Medical Operations

• The Quality Scholars Program through Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center’s Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence provides in-depth training and experience in quality improvement for individuals who seek to be independent improvement investigators or system-wide improvement leaders.
• Quality Scholars also complete the Master of Science in Clinical and Translational Research as a foundational part of the program.
• Fellows interested in the Quality Scholars Program will apply in their first year of fellowship.
• Most fellows, regardless of focus area, will complete formal QI training during fellowship through either the Rapid Cycle Improvement Collaborative (RCIC) or the LEAN Collaborative.

Biomedical and Clinical Informatics

• We have a close relationship with the Clinical Informatics Fellowship Program (housed in the Division of Hospital Medicine). Opportunities exist for informatics electives, research, and even combined fellowship training for interested fellows.
• The Graduate Certificate in Biomedical Informatics complements the Master of Science in Clinical and Translational Research degree program to provide graduate-level training for fellows interested in the integration of clinical and analytical systems with clinical practices and research.

Medical Education

• For fellows interested in academic careers in medical education, the Online Master's Degree in Education (MEd) provides a foundation in the principles of adult learning, curriculum and instruction, and educational measurement and research.
• Additional educational training opportunities are available in a multi-divisional collaborative group focused on educational scholarship.

Clinical Pharmacology

• We have a close relationship with the Clinical Pharmacology Fellowship Program. Opportunities exist for elective, research, and even combined fellowship training for fellows interested in high impact clinical and developmental pharmacology related approaches that will improve proper use of medicines in children and enhance pediatric therapeutics and related health outcomes of neonates, children and adolescents.