Program Goals and Objectives

Goals

  • To acquire knowledge and skills necessary to diagnose and manage pediatric patients with a wide variety of acute and chronic infectious diseases, including disorders of host defense.
  • To acquire knowledge and skills to understand and manage the principles of disease control, prevention of healthcare-associated infections, emerging pathogens, immunization programs, and/or vaccine-preventable diseases.
  • To acquire knowledge in basic epidemiologic and a biostatistical methods and their application to clinical research and patient care.
  • To acquire knowledge of the functions and appropriate utilization of diagnostic microbiology, immunology, virology, mycology and parasitology laboratories.
  • To accumulate a critical mass of fundamental information and practical approaches for the diagnosis, management and prevention of disorders experienced by pediatric infectious disease patients.
  • To acquire the technical and practical skills that is required by a consultant in pediatric infectious diseases.
  • To acquire clinical skills in a progressive fashion and with increasing responsibility appropriate for a consultant in pediatric infectious diseases.
  • To acquire knowledge and skills necessary for providing cost-effective, ethical and humanistic care of patients with disorders experienced in pediatrics.
  • To acquire knowledge and skills necessary for critical analysis of laboratory testing and the medical literature pertinent to pediatric infectious diseases.
  • To acquire skills in design and performance of hypothesis-driven research, and to participate in such research or equivalent scholarly activity. This may include gaining experience in grant writing and scientific presentation.

Objectives

The program will provide training in:

  • Appropriate use of antimicrobial agents in a variety of clinical settings, their mechanisms of action, pharmacokinetics and potential adverse reactions.
  • Microbiological and immunologic factors that determine the outcome of the interaction between host and microbe.
  • Microbiology laboratory techniques, including culture techniques, rapid diagnostic methods, and molecular methods for identification of bacteria, mycobacterial, fungi, viruses, rickettsia, chlamydia, and parasites in clinical specimens.
  • Effects of underlying disease states and immunosuppressive therapies on host response to infectious agents.
  • Clinical pharmacology of antimicrobial agents including drug interactions, adverse reactions, dose adjustments for abnormal physiology, and principles of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.
  • Methods of determining activity of antimicrobial agents and techniques to determine their concentrations in blood and other body fluids.
  • Indications for diagnostic procedures and the interpretation of results. For example: bronchoscopy, thoracentesis, arthrocentesis, lumbar puncture, and aspiration of abscess cavities and soft tissues.
  • Mechanisms of protection against infection, e.g.; active or passive immunization and immunomodulating agents.
  • The sensitivity, specificity, efficacy, benefits and risks of contemporary technologies, such as those for rapid microbiologic diagnosis and for diagnostic imaging.
  • Principles and practice of hospital epidemiology and infection control and prevention.
  • Currently recommended immunization schedules for young infants, children, and adolescents, with knowledge of protective efficacy, risks and benefits of routinely administered vaccines, including the use of immunizations in special situations and immunocompromised hosts.
  • Understanding of adverse events attributed to immunomodulators.
  • Emerging infectious diseases and public health issues pertinent to pediatric infectious diseases.
  • Professionalism, including peer interactions, communication with patients, their families and other health care providers, confidentiality and avoidance of conflict of interest.
  • Clinical research.
  • Understanding of existing and emerging pediatric infectious diseases literature.
  • Personal scholarship and self-instruction.