Residency program

Overview

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The Advocate Christ Medical Center Pediatric Residency Program is dedicated to preparing physicians for a career in pediatrics, whether as a subspecialist or generalist. During the three-year program, residents experience a rich variety of pediatric experiences at Advocate Children's Hospital - Oak Lawn from the diagnostic dilemmas and management challenges of primary care to highly sophisticated and unusual examples of tertiary care.

Program specifics

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Residents who train at Christ Medical Center diagnose and manage a range of acute and chronic pediatric diseases of all levels of severity. The residents develop competency in managing "bread and butter" cases, as well as unusually and critically ill patients on the inpatient services and critical units, and in the acute care clinic and the pediatric emergency center.

Ambulatory settings are used extensively for the education of the residents, in general and subspecialty pediatrics. In addition to acute care, continuity clinics and office-based activities, outpatient experiences are formally required in:

  • Adolescent medicine
  • Asthma
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Cleft palate clinic
  • DiGeorge clinic
  • Development and behavior
  • Down Syndrome
  • Endocrinology
  • Feeding and swallowing
  • Limb anomalies

  • Normal newborn clinic
  • Ophthalmology
  • Orthopedics
  • Otolaryngology
  • Spina bifida
  • Spinal cord injury
  • Sports medicine
  • Urology
  • Weight Control

In addition, residents spend time in the outpatient setting during their medical subspecialty electives.

Each intern has a continuity clinic in the outpatient setting with access to a social worker, dietician, and Healthy Steps specialist. Since November 2000, our residency has been a pilot program for the national Healthy Steps initiative. Healthy Steps is a clinical and educational program that emphasizes the promotion of health and optimal development in young children. Under the supervision of a trained Healthy Steps specialist, the residents longitudinally participate in community activities centered around developmental support such as Early Intervention and the WIC Program.

The basic in house schedule is as follows:

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  • We have developed a hospitalist program to help provide direct hands-on education and clinical support to the residents. We have full-time, 24/7 coverage. Hospitalists are integrated completely into the residency program.
  • We have two, full-time fourth-year Pediatric Chief Residents who also have clinical roles on the Floors, in the Nursery, and in Clinic.