Clinical training and practice exams

Mayo Clinic's three-year Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine Residency includes extensive clinical training, unmatched elective opportunities, and an option for either laboratory-based or clinical research. You follow a curriculum that emphasizes the core skills and knowledge necessary to become a competent general pediatric physician, and you also are given autonomy to customize your learning for a projected subspecialty fellowship. 

You’ll receive comprehensive pediatric training in:

• Community ambulatory pediatrics
• Care of hospitalized children and adolescents
• Evaluation and treatment of acute and emergent medical conditions in children and adolescents
• Neonatal and pediatric intensive care
• Delivery room and newborn infant management
• All pediatric subspecialties

In the first year, as a PGY-1 resident, you are introduced to the fundamentals of pediatrics. You develop skills and knowledge necessary to manage common and complex medical conditions encountered in the hospital, delivery room, neonatal intensive care unit, outpatient practice, and receive dedicated procedural training.

You are also assigned a general adviser. As training progresses, you may identify other faculty to serve in a mentoring capacity. Meetings with faculty members and program directors are conducted throughout your residency to discuss how you can achieve your professional goals.

In the second year, as a PGY-2 resident, you expand your skills of independent management of patients and begin to develop supervisory skills necessary to lead a medical team.

In the third year, as a PGY-3 resident, you gain expertise in supervising and directing a medical team. The development of independent decision-making skills is emphasized through leading junior residents and medical students in the hospital, outpatient clinic, intensive care unit and emergency department.

Through nominations by faculty and residents, two residents are selected each year to serve a fourth year as chief residents of the Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine Residency program.

Practice examinations

Our Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine Residency includes annual American Board of Pediatrics in-training examinations to help assess progress toward board certification.

The community pediatric and adolescent medicine rotation and the developmental and behavioral pediatrics rotation are call-free. Electives are also call-free. Rarely, certain electives incorporate home pager call.

Call responsibilities by rotation:

• General Pediatric Hospital Service (PGY-1): 12- to 14-hour shifts with every fourth day admitting (one 24-hour call/block)
• Night team (PGY-1): 12- to 14-hour night shifts on Sunday through Thursday nights (five each week)
• General Pediatric Hospital Service supervisor (PGY-2 and PGY-3): 12- to 14-hour day shifts
• Newborn Nursery (PGY-2 and PGY-3): one 24-hour call/week, remainder 12-hour day or night shifts
• Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (PGY-1): 10-hour day shifts (no in-house night call)
• Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (PGY-2): five 24-hour calls/rotation
• Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Service: 12-hour day shifts with every other day admitting
• Emergency department: shifts, all day and evening, none overnight
• Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PGY-2 and PGY-3): two 24-hour calls/block (weekends), weekdays covered by 12-hour shifts, one week of nights/block

Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science strictly follows the recommendations of the ACGME regarding duty hours.

A backup call (jeopardy) system of residents provides coverage in event of illness or family emergency.

Clinical supervision and resident patients

The Continuity Clinic serves as the backbone of the curriculum and takes place throughout the residency, typically one half-day each week. Each resident serves as the primary care provider for their Continuity Clinic patients with graduated supervision from staff general pediatricians. The Continuity Clinic is fully integrated into the Mayo Clinic Division of Community Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine primary care practice.

There are no private patients or community private attending physicians at Mayo Clinic. Each hospitalized patient is assigned to a resident physician who is responsible for that patient's care in the hospital and, when appropriate, for follow-up care in the resident's Continuity Clinic.

While on a hospital team, you receive supervision and daily teaching from a faculty member assigned to the team. Subspecialty services also contribute to the teaching experience.

Elective rotations

These pediatric subspecialty electives are available at Mayo Clinic:

• Child abuse
• Pediatric allergy and immunology
• Pediatric cardiology
• Pediatric endocrinology
• Pediatric gastroenterology
• Pediatric genetics
• Pediatric hematology/oncology
• Pediatric infectious diseases
• Pediatric nephrology
• Pediatric neurology
• Pediatric palliative care
• Pediatric pulmonary
• Pediatric rheumatology

A wide array of electives is available in related medical areas, including:

• AI
• Anesthesia
• Child psychiatry
• CVICU
• Dermatology
• Laboratory medicine
• Nutrition
• Ophthalmology
• Orthopedics and sports medicine
• Otolaryngology
• Physical medicine and rehabilitation
• Procedure elective (IV team, respiratory therapy)
• Research
• Radiology
• Sleep Medicine
• Surgery

During either the PGY-2 or PGY-3 year, you may choose to pursue an elective rotation at Mayo Clinic's campuses in Jacksonville, Florida, and Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona, as well as at other affiliated children’s hospitals throughout the region. Housing and an automobile are provided during these rotations at no charge. Community inpatient and outpatient elective opportunities are also available in our regional health system. Off-site rotations are elective and not required.

You are also encouraged to consider an international elective opportunity to serve the underserved through the Mayo International Health Program.

Responsibilities and evaluation

To ensure that you acquire adequate knowledge and develop technical skills, your performance is monitored carefully during the course of the program training. You are evaluated formally by your supervising faculty members after each clinical rotation and meet with your faculty advisers and program leadership to review these evaluations.

You will also learn how to give verbal and written feedback to junior residents and medical students through Residents as Teachers curriculum and mentored evaluations.

In addition, you regularly evaluate the faculty to ensure that your educational needs are being met. This program has integrated the ACGME outcome project ("competencies" and "milestones") measures as a routine part of the evaluation process.