Mission

To prepare graduates to act as full scope pediatricians in the limited resource duty station including the care of newborns (sick and well) and the initial stabilization and resuscitation of a critically ill older child.

Vision

We are dedicated to fostering a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment that allows our residents to flourish and reach their goals as physicians and officers. Our program is dedicated to providing an exceptional educational environment while ensuring high-quality patient care and support to the families of our servicemembers.

Aims

• PREPARE Navy and Air Force pediatricians to excel in practice as general pediatricians, fellows or subspecialists.
• ENSURE that residents are proficient in the six core competencies as defined by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
• INSTILL confidence in graduates to practice independently in isolated duty stations as general pediatricians or in an operational capacity.
• INTRODUCE residents to concepts relevant to Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief efforts of the Department of Defense, and whenever possible, involve residents in actual international missions.
• PRODUCE pediatricians that are able to function as managers of the health care team in clinical roles and as future leaders of military Pediatrics.
• PROVIDE a foundation for educational excellence; fostering an environment for trainees to continuously improve their own knowledge/skills and to become highly effective teachers.

Morning Report

30-min, four days a week in which a resident presents patients a case-based format to fellow residents and faculty

Academic Day

Four hours of dedicated, protected didactics on Thursday mornings, specifically designed as board-prep material using the American Board of Pediatrics content specifications

Journal Club

45-minute reviewing current pediatrics literature with residents and faculty presented by a PGY2 resident

Process Review Conferences

30-min quarterly review of patient safety events by a group of PGY3 residents

Combined Conferences

1-hour quarterly intradisciplinary grand-rounds style lecture led by a PGY3 resident

Objective Structured Clinical Knowledge Exam

Yearly 4-hour long simulated clinical scenarios in 10 different subspecialty stations

Continuity Clinic Discussions

4-hour long group discussion every 5 weeks when rotating on a continuity clinic week, with curriculum focused on outpatient general pediatrics topics

CHKD - Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters
LAFB - Langley Air Force Base

Our program uses an X+Y schedule where every 5th week is a continuity clinic week. We also incorporate longitudinal experiences in Adolescent Medicine and Developmental Pediatrics in addition to the dedicated rotations listed above.

On-site electives are available in the following subspecialties:

• Allergy/Immunology
• Adolescent and Young Adult
• Pediatric Cardiology
• Development-Behavioral Pediatrics
• Pediatric Endocrinology
• Child Psychiatry
• Pediatric Gastroenterology
• Genetics#
• Pediatric Hematology-Oncology
• Pediatric Infectious Disease*#
• Pediatric Nephrology#
• Pediatric Neurology
• Pediatric Pulmonology
• NICU Resuscitation
• Pediatric Nutrition#
• Research

* Not currently available on-site, but projected to be available soon
# Available as half-day “selective”

The program is also often able to coordinate off-site subspecialty rotations at CHKD.

Our program has been part of the piloting research study since 2022, trialing an “X+Y” schedule. This means that instead of leaving an inpatient space in the middle of the day for continuity clinic, residents have full week blocks of outpatient clinic in-between inpatient rotations.

• When inpatient, interns typically work six 11-hour days or 13-hour nights of the week. Senior level residents typically work four inpatient days with a 24-hour shift on a weekend day or 5-6 nights.
• While on an elective or outpatient rotation, residents work normal business hours but also provide call coverage over the weekends in the inpatient spaces. Residents typically have at least one full weekend off per month, if not more.
• When on an outpatient continuity clinic week, residents have at least four half days of their own general pediatrics clinic, as well as half days in adolescent clinic, developmental clinic, or other half day learning experiences.

The military Pediatric residencies have as their primary goal to prepare residents to be general pediatricians, often in austere environments or without specialty backup. To that end each program has several requirements above the minimum goals.

• Two months in newborn nursery
• Four months of Neonatal Intensive Care
• Biannual simulated procedure days
• PGY3 procedure day
• Military Medical Humanitarian Assistance Course
• Pediatric Fundamentals of Critical Care Support Course
• STABLE post-resuscitation stabilization care of sick infants

Humanitarian missions as available (recent examples: deploying on USNS Comfort, providing humanitarian relief in Djibouti, or caring for Afghan refugees in Quantico, Virginia).

Not all these courses are strictly required of all residents. Those that are required for all residents are marked with an asterisk (*).

Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS)*

Provides a detailed and evidence-based approach to a wide variety of protocols and procedural skills vital for those healthcare providers who respond to emergencies in infants and children in a variety of health care settings.

Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP)*

Provides an in-depth and evidence-based approach to the care of the newborn at birth.

Military Medical Humanitarian Assistance Course

Created by the Department of Pediatrics at USUHS in 1998 with the explicit goal of providing training for military primary care providers in preparing for and executing appropriate medical care to civilian populations in the austere health emergency setting. This two-day course is offered at NMCP and focuses on understanding the unique health environment and recognizing and managing those conditions consistently associated with high mortality among the most vulnerable populations.

Pediatric Fundamentals of Critical Care Support

This 2-day course provides training to non-intensivists to recognize and initiate care for critically ill patients.

Military Tropical Medicine Course

This in-depth course has both virtual/self-paced learning and in-person portions. The course provides a robust introduction to tropical medicine and the diseases encountered in this environment.

Quarterly 2-hour longitudinal curriculum dedicated to pediatric code scenarios. Scenarios often will incorporate procedures, and are sometimes paired with procedure seminars.

PGY2 residents start their senior year with a one-week long “Transition to Senior Week” seminar that focuses on leading a team, teaching learners, and providing clinical oversight. During that week, they are also trained in STABLE, and as PALS and/or NRP instructors.

Before graduation, PGY3 residents undergo a “Transition to Staff Week” seminar that focuses on leading as an attending, transporting patients in an austere environment, and utilizing military resources when in overseas or remote duty stations.

Our residents are very active in research opportunities here at NMCP. Projects range from clinic quality improvement to IRB-approved research projects. Our program has a strong Research Coordinator and many dedicated faculty who maintain a strong research interest and productivity and are very interested in mentoring residents. Residents regularly present their research at local and national conferences.

In 2023, our residents participated in:

• 4 peer reviewed publications
• 7 residents attended and/or presented at the AAP National Conference
• 17 presentations at NMCP Local Command Research Competition
• 3 presentations at other national conferences

Quality improvement is built into our residency curriculum, and residents are given dedicated time to complete quality improvement projects. Current projects are focused on a variety of topics, such as topical dental fluoride administration, recognizing and managing obesity, ethics curriculum, teaching medical students to combat vaccine hesitancy, and more. Our department often has projects to present at the local Quality Symposium, run by the command yearly.

PGY3 residents are eligible to attend and receive credit towards their academic promotion at USUHS by attending faculty development sessions that are available throughout the year.

• Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters – 1-month hospitalist rotation (PGY1), 2-week inpatient subspecialty rotation (PGY1), 1-month children’s emergency department rotation (PGY1 and PGY2), 2-week Child Forensics (PGY2 or PGY3) and 1-month Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PGY2)
• Virginia Commonwealth University – 1-month PICU (PGY3)
• Langley Air Force Base – 1-month ambulatory clinic rotation (PGY2 and PGY3)

Active duty and civilian rotations are available for any interested medical student. Rotations can be 2-4 weeks in length. Available areas for rotations include:

• Pediatric Inpatient Medicine (A combination of inpatient general pediatrics, heme/onc, and PICU patient care)
• Neonatal ICU
• Nursery inpatient
• General pediatrics clinic
• Adolescent and young adult clinic
• Developmental behavioral clinic

Subspecialty care:

• Pediatric Endocrinology
• Pediatric Gastroenterology
• Pediatric Hematology-Oncology
• Pediatric Neurology
• Pediatric Pulmonology

We are also able to mix rotations with two weeks on one clinical space and two weeks on another.

• We love showing off our program and getting to meet you when possible.  We encourage all applicants to schedule in-person interviews but understand and have opportunities for virtual and phone interviews.
• Work hard and learn a lot on your in-person audition rotations.
• Have your CV and personal statement available before you come to interview.

Program graduates take the American Board of Pediatrics General Pediatrics Certifying Exam. This exam is offered annually. To become fully board certified, applicants are eligible to take board certification exam 2 months following graduation. To be eligible to take specialty board exams, graduates must complete all pre-requisites required by the American Board of Pediatrics by September of their graduation year. Those who graduate off-cycle following this date will not be eligible to sit for their board examination typically held in October.

Our residents are active teachers for a variety of personnel, but actively teach USUHS students on their MS3 clerkship. NMCP Pediatrics typically has 14-18 USUHS clerkship students rotate with us per year.

Our program’s residents are actively engaged in collaboration with other programs through forums such as Combined Conferences and in the development of shared Clinical Practice Guidelines and algorithms. Many of our residents have also presented at command and regional Grand Rounds.

Our program hosts faculty with the following training:

• Allergy/Immunology
• Adolescent and Young Adult
• Pediatric Cardiology
• Development-Behavioral Pediatrics
• General Pediatrics
• Pediatric Endocrinology
• Pediatric Gastroenterology
• Genetics
• Pediatric Hematology-Oncology
• Pediatric Neurology
• Pediatric Pulmonology
• Neonatology
• Pediatric Intensive Care

Mentorship is vital to the success of every resident. Each resident is paired with a faculty advisor and is given protected time to meet with their advisor on a quarterly basis.

Our program has a resident wellness committee that hosts wellness seminars quarterly. Recent wellness seminars have included gift/cookie exchanges during the holidays, team sports like dodgeball or kickball, and mindfulness seminars co-run with psychiatry residents. The pediatrics residency additionally has “safe space” attendings who can help residents with any wellness concerns.

We also offer additional resources through our NMCP command, including the NMCP GME Peer Support Network, NMCP Chaplains, and Fleet and Family Support Network.