Program Goals
We expect that all of our graduates will display the necessary knowledge and skills to become excellent general pediatricians. Our program is designed to offer residents diverse educational opportunities in an academic setting which will enhance their knowledge and clinical skills and make them respected, valued members of the medical community in which they practice. The educational experience is necessarily varied, from well-child care to management of critically ill children in intensive care units. Upon graduation, we expect our residents to be experts in pediatric and adolescent care.

The Children's Hospital at The Cleveland Clinic
Many positive changes have occurred at The Children's Hospital at The Cleveland Clinic in recent years that have resulted in tremendous growth of our Pediatric Residency Training Program. While many children's hospitals are struggling in our current health care environment, The Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital has experienced an unprecedented surge in both hospital admissions and outpatient visits. Total hospital admissions for 2002 were 7,461. Total pediatric office visits, including all pediatric subspecialties, rose to more than 311,386.

Within the past five years, The Cleveland Clinic has formed relationships with the majority of the major hospitals in our region, created exclusive contracts with insurers, and established new facilities that have dramatically expanded our pool of pediatric patients, thus boosting both hospital admissions and outpatient visits. In addition to generating patient volume, these changes have balanced the Clinic's focus, which traditionally was subspecialty care. Now, residents benefit from a unique patient mix, with large volumes of primary general pediatric care side by side with extremely complex subspecialty cases.

The unique strengths of The Cleveland Clinic have enabled it to broaden its reach dramatically. The Clinic's reputation for negotiating contracts with major insurance companies (often as the exclusive provider of inpatient care for many of these plans) has proven a major boost to patient volume. A prime example of this strategy occurred in 1993, when the Ohio Kaiser Permanente group agreed to send all of its pediatric hospital admissions to The Children's Hospital, greatly increasing the numbers of general pediatric patients on our wards. Currently, more than 30 Kaiser Permanente general pediatricians admit and manage all of their pediatric patients at The Cleveland Clinic.

Over the past several years, the Clinic began to expand in the Greater Cleveland area by establishing Family Health Care Centers in the Cleveland suburbs, and hiring additional general pediatricians to staff these facilities. These practices are rapidly growing, providing care for more than 90,604 pediatric office visits in 2002. The pediatricians in the Family Health Care Centers serve as continuity clinic preceptors and ward attendings, as well as supervising block outpatient general pediatric rotations.

As recently as 1995, The Children's Hospital had been essentially locked out of newborn care in the Cleveland area. The Clinic expanded its newborn population by opening an obstetrics unit and newborn nursery in 1995. The OB department generated more than 2071 deliveries in 2002. The Cleveland Clinic neonatologists, in conjunction with MetroHealth Medical Center, have established a regional neonatal network, whereby our physicians currently manage more than 60% of all newborns in the region. A newly constructed 17-bed, Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit opened in July, 2001.

The Children's Hospital has become a major national and international referral center for many of the pediatric subspecialties, drawing patients from surrounding states and all over the world because of the unique care we are able to provide.

The Pediatric Residency Training Program at The Children's Hospital has benefitted greatly from all of the above changes. As of July 2003, 40 residents will be enrolled in our Pediatric Residency Training program.

All of our residents participate in pediatric research. The residents are closely mentored by faculty members of their choice, and regularly meet with our research program coordinators to guide them through the process. The resident's project may take the form of a retrospective study, prospective study or a case report. A detailed curriculum in the critical analysis of medical literature (including research methodology and biostatistics) is built into the conference schedule to provide a solid research background. In their second and third years, our residents share the results of their projects at our Annual Pediatric Research Day. This unique opportunity fosters the education development of our residents throughout their training. The residents have the option of scheduling elective time for research.

The priority of the staff at The Children's Hospital is to provide all of our patients with the highest quality health care possible. We consider it our privilege, as well as our responsibility, to train the next generation of pediatricians to meet this same high standard. We feel The Children's Hospital provides the ideal mix of patients, academic environment, and highly motivated teaching staff for pediatric residency training.

Medical Student Teaching Opportunities
We are excited that The Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Case Western Reserve University have formed a new medical education and research program. The new Cleveland Clinic College of Medicine of CWRU will enroll its first entering class in 2004 and will prepare physicians and scientists dedicated to advancing biomedical research and practice. The college will admit students from a national and international pool of applicants.

In addition, medical students from Hershey Medical College of the Pennsylvania State University serve as third and fourth year clerks on The Children's Hospital ward service. During their clerkships, they also rotate through the general pediatric outpatient area, as well as in the subspecialty clinics. In addition to the resident noon conference schedule, there are special conferences provided for the students. Fourth year students from variety of medical schools, also serve as acting interns on the ward service. Our residents fulfill an important role in the teaching and supervision of ward medical students.

Pediatric Fellowships
Allergy/Immunology
Cardiology
Gastroenterology
Infectious Diseases
Neurology
Psychology

Resident Retreat
The Annual Resident Retreat is an important aspect of the Pediatric Residency Program. All residents are excused from other responsibilities to attend this activity. The retreat addresses issues such as stress management, effective communication, and leadership. All residents, particularly in their first year, experience stresses unique to the medical profession, such as caring for terminally ill children, dealing with difficult families, and making mistakes. Residents need to be able to communicate effectively with each other and share their experiences.

It is also intended to be an enjoyable way for residents to get to know each other outside
of the hospital setting. Creating an atmosphere where we can laugh at ourselves and enjoy each other's company helps to ease the transition into the serious business of residency training. These lighter moments initiated at the retreat are very often continued through other social gatherings throughout the year.

Educational Opportunities
Cleveland is surrounded by excellent school systems which rank among the nation's best. Many fine private schools are also located within the area. There are more than twenty universities and colleges in Greater Cleveland, including Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University, John Carroll University and Baldwin Wallace College. Other major educational resources include the Cleveland Art Institute, and the Cleveland Music Settlement School, both of which are located minutes from the Foundation.

Application and Information Requests
Thank you for your interest in our program! Additional information may be obtained from:

Gary D. Williams, M.D.
Division of Education
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation
9500 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44195

Or you may call the Pediatric Education Office (216) 444-5510 or 1-800-355-4223 or Email: [email protected] for more information on the Pediatric Residency Training Program. Additionally, you may e-mail the Graduate Medical Education Office at [email protected].

Cleveland Clinic Foundation  |  The Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital for Rehabilitation
Contact Us  |   Privacy Statement  |   Disclaimer
© The Cleveland Clinic 2004