How old is University of Chicago’s Med-Peds Program?
The program started in 1983!
ACGME Accredited?
Yes! Our program is fully accredited with no citations.
How many residents have completed University of Chicago’s Med-Peds Program?
We have more than 90 graduates.
How many Med-Peds faculty hold appointments at the University of Chicago?
We have 15 faculty members with appointments at the University of Chicago. Please visit our Faculty Page for more information.
What percentage of U of C Med-Peds graduates pursue subspecialty training?
About half of our graduates go on to specialize by entering a wide variety of Medicine, Pediatric or combined Med-Peds fellowships. And half explore careers in hospitalist medicine and/or pediatrics, Med-Peds primary care, or both. The vast majority of our graduates continue in both Medicine and Pediatrics. Please visit our Alumni Page for more information.
How many residents are currently in the Med-Peds program?
We have 4 residents a year giving us 16 residents a year. This size melds well with our categorical departments which have 24 categorical residents per year on Pediatrics and 34 categorical residents per year on Medicine.
What is the call schedule like?
We are fully compliant with the ACGME mandated Duty Hour rules. The call schedule varies by service from every fourth night call to a night float system for inpatient rotations. Please see the Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Chief Websites for detailed information.
How long is internship?
Intern year is 12 months long, with 6 total months on Medicine and 6 total months on Pediatrics.
How is the schedule generated for Med-Peds residents?
One of the Med-Peds chief residents is in charge of generating the annual schedule in conjunction with each resident. Both categorical departments are very understanding of Med-Peds scheduling constraints and work hard to accommodate residents’ needs and requests. During the first two years of residency, switches from pediatrics to medicine occur every three months. More flexibility is provided during third and fourth year in order to best prepare each resident for his or her future career path.
Do residents rotate outside of the University of Chicago?
As part of our Pediatrics curriculum, we can rotate at Northshore University Hospital in Evanston, Illinois, just North of the city, La Rabida Hospital (just South East of our Hospital on the Lakefront) and general inpatient pediatrics at St. Anthony’s Hospital, an under-served community hospital. The majority of Pediatrics rotations are at Comer Children’s Hospital. This combination of rotations yields diverse experiences with patients across the spectrum of healthcare and social need. There is also supported elective time to pursue rotations at other hospitals in a desired specialty.
What percentage of the curriculum is devoted to ambulatory training?
About 45% of the training for our traditional track is devoted to ambulatory training but we are excited that our LUCENT primary care track will offer a higher percentage.
Is there an opportunity to take International electives?
Yes! When designing your individualized curriculum, you are able to do at least 1-2 blocks of international electives. The opportunities range from joining an established program or coordinating your own international elective.
Which conferences are available for residents?
Both the Internal Medicine and Pediatrics departments offer a daily morning report and noon conference (including department-wide grand rounds once a week). Morning reports are generally case-based and interactive. In both departments, Med-Peds residents are required to periodically lead morning report. At least one conference a week is dedicated to ICU topics in both departments. While on inpatient rotations, interns have a dedicated intern noon conference once a week, during which time residents participate in an advanced lecture series, board review, or journal club. Other unique conferences include Ethics reports and grand rounds, social service rounds, basic science lectures, a healthcare disparities curriculum, global health seminars, morbidity and mortality conferences, and monthly joint conferences between the IM and Emergency Medicine departments.
Ambulatory topics are covered utilizing the web-based PEAC Modules over the four years. Additionally, there is a lecture series addressing evidence-based medicine, quality improvement and other ambulatory topics that occurs during the 4 ambulatory rotations during second through fourth years of residency. These rotations also include Med-Peds specific ambulatory seminars, bimonthly Med-Peds case based topics, and a quarterly Med-Peds conference.
For both departments, months spent in the ICU include daily relevant lectures for residents rotating that month. Sub-specialty conferences are also offered for residents on sub-specialty electives.
What retreats do the med-peds residents attend?
We benefit from being members of both the Medicine and Pediatric departments as well as our Med-Peds residency. Our interns attend the one-day Medicine retreat in the fall, the one-day Medicine Intern to Junior Orientation day in the spring and the one-day Medicine Intern Day Off (just like it sounds, a day off without any schedule that most classes use for fun bonding activities supported by a budget from the program). The interns also attend the three-day Pediatrics retreat (held at a spa in the winter) and the one-day Pediatrics Intern to Junior Orientation day in the spring. Our second year residents attend the Medicine Junior to Senior Orientation day and the Medicine 2nd year Day Off as well as the Pediatric 2nd year retreat which includes the Junior to Senior Orientation and Day-Off. We have our own day-long Med-Peds off-site retreat every Spring with coverage provided by the categorical residents in order that we have 100% attendance.
Coverage is provided so everyone can enjoy the retreats and days off with their class despite being on Medicine during the Pediatrics retreat and vice-versa.
In addition, all MedPeds residents are covered to attend our MedPeds Retreat in the Spring and our graduation dinner at the end of the year.
What are Med-Peds Grand Rounds?
Med-Peds Grand Rounds are an opportunity to highlight Med-Peds topics in a forum for both categorical departments. We invite all faculty and residents from the Med-Peds department as well as the Internal Medicine and Pediatrics departments to attend a lecture given by a visiting speaker addressing a topic of interest to all. Examples of recent Med-Peds Grand Rounds topics include: Advances in Cystic Fibrosis, Childhood Cancer Survivors, Adult Congenital Heart Disease, Transition Care, Global Health, Primary Care for Adults with Disabilities, and Hemophilia.
Which board review resources are available to residents?
Both categorical departments do an excellent job of providing both structured board review and additional resources to aid in preparing for the boards. Annual in-service exams are offered in both departments, and detailed score reports aid in identifying areas of strength or weakness in an individualized manner. Board-style questions are incorporated into morning reports on a regular basis. We review and incorporate both boards review topics at our monthly meetings.
What recent changes have occurred in the UofC MedPeds Program?
During our annual retreat, we review our program survey and have an open forum (without faculty) for residents to discuss the program and suggest any changes. These are then considered by the program steering committee (made up of resident and attending physicians). Examples of changes that have occurred from this process include revision of our four-year curriculum, our ambulatory rotation, creation of a transition care elective rotation, creation of our Med-Peds PATHways program (an in and outpatient transition care consult service), and, more recently the move to a modified 4+2 curriculum on Medicine and Pediatrics.
Spearheaded by one of our Med Peds chiefs, the transition to a 4+2 curriculum provides a better distribution of inpatient rotations, more dedicated outpatient time, and the flexibility to increase or decrease the number of continuity clinic sessions to coordinate with other scheduling needs.
LUCENT (Leadership for Urban Primary Care Education and Transformation), our primary care track for Medicine, Pediatrics, Family Medicine and Med-Peds residents.
What are the strengths of the U of C Med Peds Program?
1 – Our community. Our residents, faculty, and clinic staff are extraordinarily supportive of each other. At every level–whether by innovating changes in our program structure to facilitate wellness or by sharing in social activities and major life events–our program members are there for each other.
3 – Our program leadership. We love our program director and core faculty. We are also strongly supported by the categorical program directors.
4 – Advising/Support. In addition to our biannual reviews with our program director, each resident is part of a Quattro with a chief resident and core faculty mentor. We have a dedicated Med Peds research mentor in Dr. Valerie Press. We also ask our 1st and 2nd year residents to have review sessions with both categorical Medicine and Pediatric Program Directors in addition to the Med-Peds Program Director. Our MedPeds subspecialty faculty working at the University of Chicago are always approachable for advising and support.
5 – Individualized curriculum. As you can see by our curriculum, our program allows flexibility in scheduling to allow the resident to create a curriculum that meets their interests and needs. This has led to residents pursuing global health, advocacy, medical education, ethics, transition care, research, and complementary and alternative medicine, among many other interests.
6 – Clinic. Our ambulatory continuity clinic is loved by all of our residents. We maintain a continuity relationship with our panel of patients over the four years. It is extremely satisfying to see the same child from their newborn visit to their 4 year old visit and have the flexibility to schedule frequent visits in order to better control an adult patient’s chronic illnesses. Our patients identify the resident as their Primary Care Physician and our Quattro system allows for continuity even when the resident is on inpatient service or on vacation.
Are there “moonlighting” opportunities for residents?
Yes – a resident needs to be in good standing to qualify for extra service pay shifts (“moonlighting)” and must comply with duty hour restrictions. On medicine, a resident can rotate as an admitting and/or covering physician for hospitalist general medicine and as the friday night resident for the CCU.
What are some of the fun things you do as a Program?
In addition to the MedPeds retreat and graduation dinner, we coordinate multiple social activities. Residents host switch dinners to share stories, experience and advice for the interns switching from Medicine to Pediatrics and vice versa. We host dinners with our Grand Rounds speakers, welcome parties for residents and faculty, holiday parties on both sides and celebrate life events – weddings, births, etc!
Where do residents live?
Our residents live throughout Chicago finding a neighborhood that fits them. Many residents live in the South Loop which has easy access to Hyde Park via Lake Shore Drive and the rest of the city by the L (Chicago’s train line – “eLevated”). Others live in Hyde Park which is a vibrant, diverse university community and often walking distance to the hospital. Additionally, we have had residents live in Wicker Park, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Andersonville, or Indiana. Parking for residents at our main hospital campus is subsidized.
What is the patient population like at the University of Chicago?
Our patient population is extremely diverse, reflecting the geographically and economically isolated and medically underserved population in our primary service area, our large University population and our office of International Medicine. We are devoted to providing comprehensive, evidence-based, culturally -competent care and reducing health care disparities.
What is the range of conditions residents will see at the University of Chicago?
Both our Medicine and Pediatrics programs have full complements of specialists and sub-specialists, level 1 trauma centers for adults and children, and robust transplant programs thus residents care for patients with a wide variety of health conditions.
What is the learning environment like at the University of Chicago?
Our programs provide residents with a high level of autonomy and outstanding supervision by full-time academic faculty, maximizing your learning in the safest possible environment.