Conferences

The three-year curriculum for trainees is designed to enhance and reinforce the clinical experience and promote a culture of self-directed learning. In addition to division-level conferences, the Medical Education Department offers a fellowship core conference series covering a wide range of topics relevant to all pediatric subspecialists. Topics covered include teaching skills, contract negotiation, medico-legal aspects of pediatric care among many others. Our divisional didactics include the following conferences:

Weekly Professor’s Rounds

In this conference a recent or current ICU case is presented by the on-service fellow to the faculty and a comprehensive scrutiny of care and management is discussed. Relevant physiology topics are highlighted by participating faculty. This is a particularly popular conference with our fellows.

Weekly Cardiothoracic Surgery Conference

This multidisciplinary conference is a surgery-based teaching session including the cardiothoracic surgery team, anesthesiologists, cardiologists and intensivists. Upcoming surgical cases are discussed in detail including surgical technique, perioperative and postoperative care and common complications.

Weekly Didactics:

The fellows’ didactic lecture series utilizes both interactive and flipped classroom models designed for adult learners to address the breadth of pediatric critical care medicine topics, including both basic physiologic processes as well as disease-specific states relative to the care of critically ill pediatric patients. These lectures are facilitated by both divisional faculty and outside speakers. The 18-month curriculum is designed to cover the core content of pediatric critical care training as set forth by the American Board of Pediatrics.

Bi-Weekly Journal Club:

Two studies or investigations relevant to the practice of critical care are presented by a fellow and critiqued in detail. One study is from the recent literature, while another complementary recent or “classic” article is reviewed briefly to put the primary study in context. The ability to interpret, critique and apply current evidence is quickly developed through this conference.

Bi-Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Conference:

In this conference all admissions to the ICU are reviewed with particular attention paid to elements of system-based practice and quality improvement. A “case of the week” and “save of the week” are presented by the fellows and salient features are discussed. This is a multidisciplinary conference in which colleagues in other specialties participate, including nursing, respiratory therapy, social work, child life, pharmacology and others.

Quarterly Management Conference:

For this conference, senior-level fellows present a medical management question in PICO (population, intervention, comparison, outcome) format. The relevant literature is collected with guidance from the pediatric librarian and synthesized and presented by the fellow with guidance from a faculty mentor.

Quarterly Critical Care / Emergency Medicine Management Conference:

The Divisions of Pediatric Critical Care and Emergency Medicine host a joint conference four times a year to discuss a particularly interesting or challenging patient cared for by both teams. The PCCM and PEM fellows involved in the care of the patient present the case and a comprehensive discussion of the management from the perspective of both divisions ensues.