Conferences and Educational Highlights

In 2018, our program adopted a protected academic half day for resident learning in the inpatient setting after a successful launch of this teaching format in the outpatient setting in 2017. Residents now sign out the patients for whom they are providing and can focus on learning without interruption. Our protected half days, described below, also offer opportunities for resident reflection on what it means to be a pediatrician and support of resident wellbeing.

On Thursday afternoons, beginning with lunch, residents gather as seniors or interns on an every-other-week basis for dedicated, protected learning time. Our academic half-days include lectures by faculty experts, case-based discussions, hands-on procedural practice and the chance to discuss the joys and challenges of residency. The separation of interns from senior residents allows for learner level-specific teaching including dedicated support of seniors as team leaders.

While on outpatient blocks, residents also have one half day per week (on Thursdays, with a purposeful restful start time of 9:00 AM) free from patient care duties in order to engage in dedicated didactic learning. Under the supervision and guidance of faculty preceptors, residents learn to assess and manage common problems in ambulatory care using the case-based Yale Primary Care Pediatrics Curriculum. Outpatient Academic Half Day also is home to our Medical Legal Partnership Project Series on Social Determinants of Health. These presentations, led by attorneys from our Medical-Legal Partnership Project, address legal issues affecting children's health. The series assists residents in learning to identify and address the social, emotional, and legal stressors impacting children's health and to provide an integrated approach to health care.

During lunch on the four days without an Academic Half Day, the chief residents and program leadership have designed a curricular framework to promote interaction and critical thinking. Residents will learn through a variety of experiences, including ethics conferences, case-based presentations, clinical reasoning exercises, global health topics, as well as rotating quality improvement and medical education sessions. The goal of our noon-time sessions is to engage residents with the many varied topics that will affect their long-term leadership trajectory in pediatrics.

All residents participate in regular simulations that are inter-professional (MD, RN, techs), and in-situ (in the clinical environment). Our trained, expert core simulation faculty work with SYNAPSE (our state-of the-art simulation center) to create a realistic and safe learning environment that focuses on both experiential and reflective learning. Debriefings involve reflecting on performance and discussions of teamwork, communication and clinical decision-making demonstrated during the case. Additionally targeted sessions are conducted with a focus on procedural skills training.