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Residents in pediatrics have the option of choosing a primary care track for their residency training.
Pediatric resident interacting with a patient on the primary care service

Pediatric Primary Care Track

The primary care track is designed to enhance the outpatient experience of residents planning a career in general outpatient pediatrics while still providing a strong inpatient/subspecialty education. The track allows residents to experience key outpatient rotations earlier in their training while still maintaining the same number of electives each year so residents can continue to create their individualized learning plan. In addition, the primary care track provides enriched education in primary care and community for sharing, peer mentoring, and support within the larger program.

Curriculum

All residents participate in a common general pediatrics core, including ambulatory, community, and other primary-care focused rotations. All residents have didactics that include components of public health and preventive care. Continuity clinics are a major focus with longitudinal patient experiences and one-on-one mentors.


Additional requirements in the primary care track

During intern year, residents in the primary care track complete the developmental/behavioral pediatric rotation in substitution for a specialty ward block

Second-year residents participate in an outpatient-focused child and adolescent psychiatry rotation. They also spend one block at Southern Indiana Pediatrics, a large primary care practice in the Bloomington area

Third-year primary care track residents can choose to repeat these rotations. They also participate in an outpatient elective where they rotate through two subspecialty clinics to learn more about the outpatient work-up and management of common problems such as constipation, headaches and irregular periods. Recent graduates say this rotation has given them the confidence to successfully treat patients with these complaints on their own when they otherwise would have referred them to a specialist

 

Primary Care Track Resources

  • Residents participate in monthly noon-conferences dedicated to outpatient pediatric topics.
  • Residents have access to the Pediatrics Ambulatory Care Curriculum from the Physician Education and Assessment Center and the Yale Modules.
  • Primary care track residents meet regularly for presentations highlighting pediatric primary care topics ranging from oral hygiene to primary care for LGBTQ+ patients, and best practices and opportunities for networking with primary care pediatricians.

 

Elective opportunities

  • Primary care track residents focus on outpatient electives (up to seven additional blocks) for primary care focus
  • Wide range of options in community pediatrics, rural practice or other settings
  • Special electives on LGBTQ+ practices, underserved populations, breast-feeding, parenting and more
  • Options for research/scholarly work in primary care quality improvement, advocacy and other research areas