Rotations

The training in primary care takes place at the University Pediatric and Adolescent Center (UPAC). The residents participate in a continuity clinic experience one half day per week. In addition, there are six separate month-long block rotations at UPAC during the three years of residency. This combination of experience provides residents with a greater continuity for health maintenance, chronic diseases and acute illnesses. In the second year, residents combine their UPAC experience with longitudinal training in the outpatient clinics of various subspecialties. An additional rotation in Adolescent Medicine rounds out their education in general pediatrics. Community practices are also available as sites for resident education, and nicely complement their training in the inner city, hospital-based UPAC.

The PICU and Stepdown units are the setting for the training in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. Residents provide direct, hands-on patient care for the sickest of pediatric patients in Central New York. Patients have a wide-range of acute conditions. Residents also provide concurrent care for patients admitted primarily for surgical conditions. The training in Neonatal Intensive Care takes advantage of the two NICUs in Syracuse. Residents have exposure to the field through two distinct NICU experiences, first at St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center and subsequently during rotations at the tertiary care NICU at Crouse Hospital.

In the newborn nursery and NICU rotations, residents have extensive exposure to a variety of neonatal conditions and receive formal training in both newborn management and resuscitation of critically ill infants. NICU residents have an opportunity to closely interact with neonatal nurse practitioners and physician assistants thereby broadening their overview of other aspects of pediatric health care provision.

At Upstate's Pediatric Emergency Department, residents are the front line with more than 20,000 pediatric patients annually. Here residents are supervised by a board specially trained in Pediatric Emergency Medicine faculty while caring for the critically ill or injured children aged newborn to 18 years. As the region's only dedicated pediatric emergency department and Level-One Trauma Center, residents are exposed to rapid diagnosis and evaluation, suturing, resuscitation and all the excitements that come through the door in a fast-paced facility with state of the art technology.

Education on the general inpatient service has changed in the past few years with the establishment of an academic pediatric hospitalist service. Dedicated hospitalists provide oversight and direct care for the inpatients at Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital and Crouse Hospital. They also provide consultative care to medical and surgical patients. A great deal of the education of residents and medical students is provided by these inpatient specialists. In addition, a separate attending, the teaching attending, provides hands-on and didactic teaching to complement the learning on the wards.

Training in developmental pediatrics includes our outstanding community resources in child development, as well as those at the Center for Neurodevelopmental Pediatrics. The Center is home to services for children with developmental and behavioral problems, as well as cerepral palsey and genetic disorders.

The Division of Hematology/Oncology cares for infants, children and adolescents with the full spectrum of hematologic and malignant disorders. The clinical activity of the section is based in the Waters Center for Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders (CCCBD). The Waters Center at Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital is the sole pediatric cancer speciality center in Central New York and serves a 21-county area in New York and Northern Pennsylvania. Each year, the center treats more than 700 local children diagnosed with leukemia, tumors, sickle cell anemia and other life threatening diseases.

The division also provides the primary source of patients for the 13-bed in-patient Pediatric Hematology/Oncology unit on 7H with its supporting staff. The division cares for approximately 50 newly diagnosed children with cancer annually and more than 70 children are actively on chemotherapy programs. The division also provides care to children with a wide variety of hematologic disorders on an ongoing basis as well as providing consultative services for regional primary care providers who need assistance caring for children with potential hematologic or oncologic diagnoses.

The curriculum continues to provide comprehensive training in the pediatric subspecialties. Clinical instruction is available in virtually all the major pediatric medical and surgical subspecialties. Residents have elective time that allows them to create additional experiences in focused areas of the subspecialties. In the third year, residents are able to have a "call free" elective month.

The Pediatric International Health Clinic is a refugee clinic that serves primarily African Refugees from Sudan, Somalia and recently Liberia. These patients present with a unique spectrum of tropical diseases that are not otherwise encountered on a routine basis in a typical North American urban setting. For more information and pictures visit our International Health Page.

Since 1989, the CARE Program has been providing comprehensive evaluation and treatment to children suspected of being abused or maltreated. The CARE team consists of specially trained and experienced physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses and social workers who work together to assess the social and medical evidence of abuse. The CARE team works closely with community agencies concerned with the welfare of children, including law enforcement, child protective services, Vera House and the McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center. The CARE Program offers a three year child abuse fellowship training program.