Pediatrics Residency
Curriculum
The Department of Pediatrics is committed to providing quality educational experiences at all sites including our hospitals, outpatient clinics, during conferences and individualized study programs. Residents spend time at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital (JHACH) and Tampa General Hospital (TGH) during all three years of training and have exposure to numerous faculty, fellows, daily conferences, and other educational experiences.
Educational Experiences
Wards
Throughout their three years of training, residents are exposed to graduated autonomy and will spend time on both JHACH wards and TGH wards. The JHACH wards team consists of interns, senior residents and medical students working together with the attending hospitalist. During the first year of training, interns spend 3 months on inpatient wards at JHACH and are typically responsible for 7 patients, with the senior serving in a supervisory position. The inpatient service is staffed by in-house hospitalists, who are available 24/7.
PL2 and PL3 residents spend two months each year on inpatient wards (1 month at JHACH and 1 month at TGH). The TGH wards team is composed of senior residents, who are responsible for the care of all patients admitted to the general pediatric and subspecialty service. Overnight, senior residents at TGH cover the Hematology/Oncology, Nephrology, Rehabilitation, and Newborn services, in-house, with the attendings available by phone.
Newborn Nursery
Residents have a 1-month newborn nursery rotation at TGH during their first year of training, with the option to complete an additional month during their PL3 year. The team consists of two interns, or 1 intern and 1 senior, along with 3 medical students. Under the supervision of general pediatric faculty and with certified nurse practitioners, residents provide care to healthy newborns and those in the transition nursery within the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
The transition nursery provides care for infants requiring increased care such as cardio-respiratory monitoring and observation for neonatal withdrawal symptoms. Residents on the newborn service also attend deliveries of infants requiring a physician's attendance.
Overnight coverage is provided by senior residents on NICU and Wards. The nursery residents provide weekend day coverage in the NICU.
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
Interns spend one month in the NICU at TGH and 1 month in the NICU as a PL2. The NICU is a Level 3 nursery with 82 private beds.
Residents work with fellows and nurse practitioners in the NICU. Residents provide delivery room coverage and are exposed to a large number of term and premature neonates with medical problems. Interns receive an increasing number of patients and responsibility during the month. Interns do 12 hour shifts. Attendings and fellows provide teaching during daily bedside rounds, organized didactics and are available in house 24/7.
Senior residents have the option of doing additional NICU rotations as electives at either TGH or JHACH. The 97-bed Level IV NICU at JHACH further exposes residents to critically ill neonates, including those with complex congenital heart disease. Residents work closely with faculty and nurse practitioners in this unit.
Critical Care-Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)
Residents have two blocks of PICU during their second year of residency. They spend 1 month in the 28-bed JHACH PICU and 1 month in the 9-bed TGH PICU. JHACH and TGH are Level 1 pediatric trauma centers. TGH is a burn center for both pediatrics and adults. Seniors take overnight call in the TGH PICU during night float rotations. Having exposure to these two different units provides an extremely broad and robust educational experience.
During their rotations, residents perform a variety of procedures, including sedation, intubations, central and arterial line placement. At JHACH, residents will also work with fellows and APPs. Additionally, JHACH has a 22-bed Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU). Residents interested in Cardiology or Critical Care medicine can choose to do an elective in this unit.
Emergency Medicine
Residents have two blocks of Emergency Medicine at TGH during their first and third year. Both are very busy free standing Emergency Rooms. PL2s get acute care experience in the ambulatory clinics.
Electives (Individualized Curriculum)
- Allergy and immunology
- Cardiology
- Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU)
- Child Abuse
- Community Pediatrics
- Dermatology
- Endocrinology
- Gastroenterology
- Genetics
- Hematology-Oncology (can include Bone Marrow unit at JHACH)
- Hospice and Palliative medicine
- Hospitalist
- Infectious diseases
- Maternal Fetal Medicine
- Mental Health (required)
- Nephrology
- Neurology
- Parenting
- Patient Safety/Quality Improvement
- Pediatric Anesthesiology, Procedures & Transport (APT)
- Pediatric Pharmacy
- Pediatric Radiology
- Pulmonology
- Research/Independent study
- Rheumatology
- Sports Medicine
- Toxicology (Poison Center)
- TEACH (Residents as Teachers)
2025-2026 Schedule
| PL1 | PL2 | PL3 |
| Emergency Medicine | Ambulatory/Acute Care | Emergency Medicine |
| Development | Inpatient Wards | Inpatient Wards |
| Inpatient Wards | Inpatient Wards | Inpatient Wards |
| Inpatient Wards | Neonatal ICU | Inpatient Wards/Newborn |
| Inpatient Wards | Pediatric ICU |
Inpatient Subspecialty |
| Neonatal ICU | Pediatric ICU | Ambulatory |
| Newborn | Complex Care | Ambulatory |
| Advocacy |
Ambulatory/PICU |
Ambulatory/PICU Night Float |
| Ambulatory | Adolescent | Mental Health |
| Ambulatory | Individualized Curriculum | Individualized Curriculum |
| Individualized Curriculum | Individualized Curriculum | Individualized Curriculum |
| Individualized Curriculum | Individualized Curriculum | Individualized Curriculum |
Mentorship Program
All residents are assigned 1 faculty advisor at the beginning of residency based on their career and personal interests. Residents meet with their advisors biannually along with having a biannual program leadership meeting . There also is a successful Big Sib Program where all interns are matched with a senior resident to provide both academic and social support.
Technology and Curriculum Resources
USF Pediatrics uses the New Innovations Management System for schedules, evaluations, etc. We also use QGenda for scheduling purposes. The COM has recently introduced DAX-Copilot as an AI tool for clinical medicine. Residents have access and are learning how to use this new tool. All curricular materials are easily accessed on the USF Box Drive. All hospitals and clinics where residents work use EPIC Electronic Medical Record which can be accessed remotely when necessary.
Committees
There are a multitude of opportunities for residents of all years to engage with a variety of committees with USF, ACH, TGH, and GME.