The emphasis during the PGY-1 year is on learning the basic principles needed to take care of children. Through close interaction with senior residents and faculty, the PGY-1 resident develops a personal sense of responsibility for patient care while learning the tools and critical thinking skills required for a life-long commitment to learning and medical education. Each resident develops teaching skills by supervising medical and physician assistant students, thereby broadening his or her own educational experience.

All PGY-1 residents also attend an all-day required teaching seminar to further enhance their teaching skills.

Inpatient Experience

The inpatient experience is primarily at Wolfson Children’s Hospital. Here, residents take care of general pediatric patients from all socioeconomic groups, as well as a variety of pediatric and surgical subspecialty patients. All inpatient experiences are supervised by faculty. Senior residents have the opportunity to supervise their junior colleagues, thus gradually preparing them for the independent practice of medicine. Residents will participate on both the general pediatrics inpatient teams as well as the hematology/oncology inpatient team. During the general pediatric in-patient months, interns will spend two weeks on night shift and two weeks on day shift during two of the blocks.

Pediatric Emergency Medicine Experience

The pediatric emergency department (PED) at UF Health Jacksonville has more than 22,000 pediatric patient visits annually. Here, PGY-1 and PGY-2 residents are exposed to the rapid diagnosis and management of acutely ill patients across the pediatric spectrum. Some PGY-1 residents are assigned to do one of their core emergency department rotations at Wolfson Children's Hospital, which is a State of Florida designated level I pediatric trauma center. Residents also have the opportunity in both the PGY-2 & PGY-3 years to do an elective rotation in the emergency department at Wolfson Children's Hospital, in addition to their required emergency department rotations at UF Health Jacksonville. Residents learn basic procedures such as incision and drainage of an abscess, simple laceration repair, venipuncture, suturing, splinting and management of simple fractures and also participate in the care of trauma patients, resuscitations and performing gynecologic examinations. Under the supervision of emergency department faculty, PGY-1 residents are required to do a procedure based simulation during this rotation. The residents provide care primarily to an under-served population and experience first hand the disparities that exist in healthcare and how they impact patients.

Newborn and NICU Experience

In the newborn nursery and NICU rotations (at UF Health), residents have extensive exposure to a variety of neonatal conditions and receive formal training in both newborn management and resuscitation of critically ill neonates. Residents will also participate in procedures such as circumcision, peripheral venous blood draws, neonatal intubation, umbilical central line placement and more. Additionally, the residents will take care of an extremely diverse and under-served population and begin to understand the disparities that exist in healthcare and how they directly impact patients. There are multiple opportunities for residents to work on QI projects with both NBN and NICU faculty.

These experiences include residents at all levels of training.

Subspecialty Experience

During the first year, residents will rotate for one block with the endocrine team, working one-on-one with faculty and fellows. Their in-patient time on this blended rotation is spent rounding on inpatients on the service and seeing consults for two weeks. Residents then spend two weeks in the out-patient clinic, learning about a wide spectrum of endocrinology diseases and conditions. They are also encouraged to spend at least 1-2 half days with the diabetes educators learning specifically about insulin pumps so as to better educate their patients. They are given a dedicated reading list during that month to facilitate learning and discussion. PGY-1 residents get 2 weekends off during this block and round on Saturday only during the other two weekends if they have primary endocrinology patients on their team.

Ambulatory Experience Including the Longitudinal Outpatient Experience

All residents have their longitudinal primary care outpatient experiences in a variety of settings that provide for a full spectrum of pediatric patients. PGY-2 and PGY-3 residents can also choose to have another outpatient primary care ambulatory month in one of the UF clinics. The residents develop a sense of personal responsibility for not only the patient but also their families. This includes a focus on wellness and prevention, coordination of care, longitudinal management of children with special health care needs and chronic conditions. In addition, pediatric residents benefit from the supervision provided by experienced UF College of Medicine – Jacksonville faculty as well as preceptors in other sites, many of whom are program alumni. Residents have a choice of longitudinal (continuity) clinics that include the local health department, UF College of Medicine – Jacksonville satellite clinics, Baptist primary care network and private offices.

Starting in the 2025-2026 academic year, in compliance with the new ACGME pediatric program requirements, all PGY-3 residents will have an additional required out-patient clinic block instead of one of the in-patient general pediatric hospital medicine rotations. This will further hone their clinical skills and also help to prepare them for the pediatric board examination by a renewed focus on normal growth and development.

Community Experience

The community and societal pediatrics (CSP) rotation introduces residents to the concepts of child rights, trauma informed care, social justice and health equity through reading, faculty teaching sessions and visits to community sites and resources. Residents will learn ways to identify and advocate for resources in under-served populations. This rotation also gives residents the opportunity to gain perspective on the social and environmental determinants that impact the health of children in our community. They also learn about different health care disparities and working with under-served/underprivileged populations

Residents with a strong interest in community pediatrics and advocacy may elect to do a community advocacy initiative (CAI) project where they may select a population or health gap of interest and further explore, develop and implement an advocacy initiative in this area. Further, residents with a strong interest in this area may choose to be on the CSP track. Faculty and community mentors are matched with residents to provide guidance and support throughout the implementation of their advocacy initiatives. While working with children, families and community-based organizations, residents begin to explore cultural competence, advocacy and population-based medicine.

Community based experiences include but are not limited to: child protection team, children’s medical services cleft palate clinic and early steps.