PL-2 Schedule and Rotations

Rotations in the 2nd year include:

1) Subspecialty Rotations – PL-2 residents transition into a leadership role as a supervisory resident both for call and during the daytime. During these rotations, the PL-2 splits time between inpatient care, consultations, and outpatient clinics.

2) Pediatric Intensive Care Unit – our pediatric ICU has 42 beds and a separate transitional care unit (TCU) for chronically ill children. PL-2 residents do not cover the cardiac surgery ICU patients or TCU patients, thereby maximizing exposure to the diagnostic and management challenges of the medically complex patients in the PICU.

3) Neonatal Intensive Care Unit – at the Children's Memorial Hospital level III NICU, residents gain experience in caring for a referral population of medically complex neonates. Many of these infants have surgical/anatomic diseases or require extensive medical management for diseases such as congenital heart disease, pulmonary hypertension, meningomyelocele, and hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.

4) Emergency Department – PL-2's are given more independence in the ED as they transition to working the busier evening and overnight shifts.

5) Community Pediatric Ward – PL-2's gain experience in running the pediatric inpatient floor at Evanston Hospital, a community affiliate. PL-2's supervise medical students and family practice residents while caring for common pediatric problems.

6) Behavior & Development – interactive experiences in day care, small groups, schools, and clinics to foster education in both normal and abnormal developmental patterns, behaviors and management strategies.

7) Community Medicine and Child Advocacy – during this month, PL-2's gain various experiences in legislative efforts, health awareness, public health education, and social services to help reinforce the role of a physician as a leader in the community. Residents visit many community resources including the Chicago section of the AAP, the Women/Infants/Children (WIC) program of the USDA, the Illinois Poison Center, domestic violence shelters, and the home/lead inspection wing of the Illinois Department of Health.

8) Electives – a variety of elective options are available at Children's Memorial. Possible electives include: sports medicine, dermatology, dentistry, urology, otolaryngology, genetics, pediatric surgery, general academic medicine, anesthesia, radiology, vascular access, orthopedics, ophthalmology, and any additional subspecialty clinic as mentioned above.

Call during the 2nd year is every 4th night with at least one weekend off per month. This schedule is in compliance with an eighty-hour workweek per RRC requirements. Five months are call-free.