Pediatric Rotation Units
Inpatient Wards
The University of Virginia Children’s Hospital has three Acute Inpatient units for medical and surgical patients in pediatric wards with a combined capacity of 45, and approximately 7,000 annual admissions.
The wards are served by a team comprised of three upper-level residents and four first-year residents (including off-service family medicine and anesthesia).
Subspecialists contribute to patient care as consultants and as the primary team, while specialists from other departments collaborate with the pediatric staff, for example, as in the case of an infant with surgical problems. As a resident, you will work with a variety of pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists from other departments to best fulfill the unique medical needs of children. In addition, you will be able to follow the progress of patients after hospital discharge, enabling you to learn about the essential continuity of health care.
Your average patient load in the Wards an an intern will be from 8. The typical number of admissions for evening on-call duty or overnight is 6-10.
This rotation provides hands-on experience with general and subspecialty pediatric patients in the Birdsong Clinic in the Battle Building. In the Birdsong Clinic, you will see children for well-child visits and for a variety of general medical problems. Both you and the medical students who assist you will be precepted by general pediatric faculty members. This clinic operates in the Battle Building on weekdays from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
The half-day, weekly Continuity Clinic gives you the opportunity to follow a group of patients over an extended period of time, much as you will be doing in a regular practice. Continuity clinic is held at Birdsong clinic in the Battle Building. Each resident is part of a team of 8-9 residents from all 3 years who are a learning community and function like a true practice of partner physicians throughout your three years to give you the more realistic general pediatric experience possible
In addition to time in the general pediatric, all residents have dedicated ambulatory time in various Mental Health sites including at schools and with psychologists for the Mental Health rotation and working closely with various community organizations during their community Rotation.
During PL-2 or PL-3 years you will have ambulatory rotations with afternoons dedicated to DEI activities and QI time as well.
As a pediatric resident, you will join emergency medicine residents in caring for patients in the Pediatric Emergency Department. UVA has a dedicated Children’s emergency service area, separate from adult emergency patients with pediatric trained emergency specialists. UVA is a level 1 trauma center.
Pediatric and emergency medicine faculty members provide supervision and emergency medical and surgical care for children and adolescents on a 24-hour basis. You will gain experience rotating in the Emergency Department each year of your residency training and will have an extended experience as a PL-2.
As the primary physician, you will gain significant experience in the management of complex newborn problems in the NICU, which features:
- U.S. News & World Report nationally ranked 60-bed NIU (currently undergoing expansion)
- A hospital-based, neonatal ground/air transport system supporting over thirty community hospitals
- State-of-the-art neonatology, including ECMO and high frequency oscillation ventilation
- A full spectrum of cardiac surgery, including heart transplant
Residents will work side by side with APPs, fellows and attendings to provide care to the most complex neonates to bread and butter premature infants.
As a first-year resident, your experience in the Newborn Nursery will emphasize the management of normal infants there as well as in the Delivery Room. Interns will complete 1 month in the NBN with overnight deliveries covered by the NICU resident who is in-house. UVA is designated as a baby-friendly hospital with couplet care as newborns stay in the rooms with their mothers.
This one-month rotation during your second and third years will give you in-depth exposure to the care of critically ill children. The PICU is a high acuity, mixed medical and surgical intensive care unit for children. Of the children admitted each year, about three out of five have primarily medical problems, and about two out of five have primarily surgical problems.
You will see a very broad range of pediatric critical illness, from airway problems to organ transplantation. As a resident, you will have primary responsibility for all pediatric admissions to the unit and will be the principal consultant for patients on surgical services. In addition to daily rounds and a “core curriculum” lecture series, you will benefit from frequent bedside teaching by faculty in the Critical Care Division, including instruction in the various techniques and procedures required for the support of critically ill children.