As part of the Pediatric Residency Program at Goryeb Children’s Hospital’s core curriculum, all residents gain subspecialty experience in child development, adolescent medicine and eating disorders, hematology-oncology, infectious disease, and pulmonology. This allows our residents to choose experiences that are true electives, such as neurology, gastroenterology, cardiology, endocrinology integrative medicine, palliative care, child abuse and neglect training, or global health, as well as other subspecialties such as genetics, allergy-immunology or organ transplantation.
Community and Advocacy
At each level of training, residents will participate in varying community pediatric activities during their Ambulatory/Community rotation. The goal of this rotation is to gain the knowledge and skill sets necessary to form appropriate partnerships and become advocates to improve the health status of children and adolescents in the surrounding communities. Through didactic and experiential activities, residents will gain the perspective that expands a pediatrician’s focus from one child to all children in the community. Pediatric residents will be provided with the tools and knowledge necessary to become professionals committed to advocacy, collaboration, dissemination of information, education, innovation and leadership within the communities in which they work.
Residents participate in the New Jersey Pediatric Residency Advocacy Collaborative (NJPRAC). This program links residents with their local Family Success Center in Dover, NJ, along with other community organizations. The goal is to provide experiential learning in childhood advocacy. All residents will also be required to participate in an ongoing community/advocacy project. Previous projects have included:
- The Reach Out and Read Program at the HealthStart continuity clinic
- A family enrichment program at the Family Health Center continuity clinic
- A state-wide health literacy program in conjunction with the New Jersey chapter of the AAP
- The New Jersey Newborn Screening Program for families and physicians with the New Jersey Department of Health
- NJ SEEDS program which introduces and motivates high school students to consider a career in health care
Research, Scholarly Activity and Goryeb Academic Pediatric Support
Faculty Supervisor: Michael Pollaro, DO
All residents are required to participate in a longitudinal research/scholarly activity. Over the years, these activities have included clinical research, quality improvement research and curriculum development. To foster a great academic environment, the Goryeb Academic Pediatric Support committee (GAPS) was created. GAPS links each resident with a faculty research mentor to help focus the resident’s interests and navigate the proper channels toward a successful research project, with the goal that they will be available for presentation at both the Annual Pediatric Research Day in March and Atlantic Health System’s Annual Research Day in June. In addition to the mentor program, GAPS provides monthly lectures on research and scholarly activity, including project design, critical appraisal of medical literature and ethics in research and quality improvement. Funds are available to allow residents to attend national and regional meetings if their work is accepted for presentation.
Goryeb Children’s Hospital faculty members are very prolific in their scholarly activities, with approximately 50 publications, presentations, posters, chapters, monographs and online educational programs per year. In addition to the resources at Atlantic Health System, residents can access research resources at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University.
Breaking Bad News
This special project was created to enhance residents' skill in communicating bad news to parents in challenging situations. Using professional improvisational actors in lieu of patients, the residents are videotaped in a simulated case scenario and evaluated by a team of physicians who work in palliative care, oncology, intensive care and neonatology. The resident receives immediate feedback from the faculty as they review the videotape. A series of didactic lectures devoted to communication skills in challenging situations further enhances the learning experience.
Adolescent Medicine
Faculty Supervisors: Jill Clark-Hamilton, MD
During the first-year adolescent medicine rotation, residents will have the opportunity to observe several services within Goryeb Children's Hospital and the community that cater to the various needs of the adolescent population. Residents will observe the Eating Disorders Program at Goryeb Children's Hospital, which offers care in both inpatient and outpatient settings through education and treatment for anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and related disorders. The Eating Disorders Program is the only multidisciplinary program in New Jersey exclusively for children and adolescents and provides a unique learning experience for residents. During their rotation, residents will also be called upon to research and answer many intriguing questions from Goryeb Children's Hospital’s pioneering and award-winning website, TeenHealthFX. This highly regarded website has helped more than two million teens with their health issues and questions.
Osteopathic Manipulation Medicine/Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine
All residents, osteopathic and allopathic, have the opportunity to practice OMM at our Pediatric HealthStart Clinic. The clinic has a monthly session devoted to the care of children utilizing OMM. Our osteopathic residents are eligible for Recognition of their PGY1 training from the AOA for licensure in Pennsylvania.
