Curriculum Overview

The Department of Pediatrics Residency Program currently has an X+Y curriculum that provides an excellent education experience while maximizing resident choice and schedule flexibility.

The Year-by-Year Preview shows how each year consists of rotations that include general inpatient ICU months, subspecialty months, and ambulatory months. In the X+Y curriculum, all core rotations (inpatient and some subspeciality rotations) are generally four weeks in duration, with vacations during eligible rotations. Each of these four-week rotations (X) is then followed by a week of outpatient clinic (Y) during which residents will primarily be at their continuity clinic site but will also have a half-day in a subspecialty clinic and an administrative half-day where they will not have any clinical duties. These Y weeks have one full weekend off so residents can plan and prepare for their next rotation.

Also during the Y week, residents attend a clinic where they see both well and sick patients of all ages. Our residents are assigned to a clinic during their intern year, and the goal is to grow a panel of patients throughout residency, a component we call Continuity Clinic.

As this is a relatively new implementation, we are continually seeking to improve and make changes based on resident feedback and are excited for the innovations to come! With our program size, we are frequently able to accommodate residents’ requests for vacation and time off.

 

Collage of residents performing research and presenting their findings

Research Pathways

The program supports both research pathways approved by the American Board of Pediatrics:

  • Accelerated Research Pathway (ARP) – For residents committed to an academic career as a physician-scientist
    The ideal candidate will be MD/DO/PhD graduate. ARP allows the resident to complete pediatrics training in two years in exchange for adding an extra year of research as a fellow.
  • Integrated Research Pathway (IRP) – This pathway is open to those with MD/DO/PhDs. The pathway allows residents to combine 24 months of clinical residency with up to 12 months of research, beginning after the PGY-1 year. At least 5 months of the research must be in the PGY-3 year.

Eligibility for Research Tracks

Intern applicants cannot be guaranteed acceptance into these pathways before the beginning of their internship since clinical performance and PGY-1 in-service exam scores are used to judge a candidate’s suitability for accelerated training. House staff who wish to pursue these pathways instead of a senior year must notify the program director by January 1 of their internship year and demonstrate superior clinical competence and scores on the In-Training Examination of the American Board of Pediatrics that predict successful passage of the general pediatrics certifying examination. The Education and Research Committee oversees the selection process for interested candidates.

2025 ACGME Changes

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) will be modifying the curriculum requirements for pediatric residency programs starting with the 2025 academic year, so every pediatric residency program may experience some changes to meet new requirements. In general, the new requirements will reduce the number of inpatient experiences required of residents and will increase exposure to outpatient pediatrics (both general and subspecialty). Check this page throughout the year as our program makes curriculum changes to accommodate the new ACGME requirements. The schedules shown on the Year-by-Year Preview are what we roughly predict will allow us to meet the new requirements: overall, the X+Y format will remain the same for our program.