About the Pediatrics Residency
How would you classify Baystate Children's Hospital?
How do your residents do on the American Board of Pediatrics Certifying Examinations?
Are there opportunities to do a research or advocacy project?
Do the pediatric residents participate in simulation training?
Are there any unique features of the continuity clinic?
What is the call schedule on different rotations?
How have the new guidelines for resident work hours impacted the pediatrics residency program?
How does the program deal with resident stress?
What do your graduates do after residency?
About Residencies or Fellowships
How many residency and fellowship programs does Baystate Medical Center have?
Are residents involved in teaching medical students?
Do residents have a voice in decision-making?
Are there opportunities to meet residents and fellows from other departments?
What library resources are available?
Where do we eat at the hospital?
Where do we park?
About Baystate Medical Center
Where is Baystate Medical Center?
How does Baystate promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace?
Will Baystate help my significant other find employment?
Is Baystate a "green" workplace?
Does Baystate provide child care?
About Springfield and the Surrounding Community
What's it like to live there?
Where should I live?
About the Pediatrics Residency
How would you classify Baystate Children's Hospital?
Baystate Childrens Hospital is part of a university-affiliated medical center. In fact, it is the largest teaching hospital in the Tufts University system. It is an academic medical center which supports teaching of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year Tufts medical students, residents, fellows, senior physicians and other health professionals. Faculty and residents participate in clinical, epidemiological and basic research. Baystate Children's Hospital serves as the community hospital for a large number of pediatricians, and also is the tertiary care medical center for the Western Massachusetts region.
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How do your residents do on the American Board of Pediatrics Certifying Examinations?
Residents from Baystate have done very well on the Board Exam. This past year (2009), 91.6% of our recently graduated seniors who took the certifying examination passed. Over the last 10 years, 89% have passed the examination as first-time takers.
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Are there opportunities to do a research or advocacy project?
Most medical students come into residency with experience in research or community service. We feel it is important for you to be able to continue in these areas of interest. All of our residents do a project over their three years. It can be in the area of clinical research, community advocacy, public health or education. Each resident works with a faculty mentor. In the spring of the PL3 year, each resident gives a short presentation at Grand Rounds about his/her project. These presentations have been uniformly well-received. In fact, every year, a large subset of our residents present abstract posters and/or platform presentations at national meetings. This year (2010), five of our seniors had abstracts accepted for presentation at the premier pediatric research meeting (Pediatric Academic Societies) in Vancouver.
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Do the pediatric residents participate in simulation training?
Baystate Medical Center has a very robust simulation center. Resident teams on the inpatient service participate in simulated scenarios on twice a rotation. Residents in the PICU go down to the center every Friday morning as a group and work with the pediatric “patients”. NICU has a new newborn baby simulator which they have incorporated into their education program. Residents on ambulatory and elective rotations also have an opportunity several times a year to work on crisis team training in the center with one of our former Chief Residents who is now the senior pediatric emergency medicine fellow.
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Are there any unique features of the continuity clinic?
There are many unique features of the continuity clinic. Every resident has their own patient panel that they develop over their three year experience. We take a team approach at High Street. There are 5 practice teams each named after a Dr. Seuss book. Each team has its own nurse and medical assistant. This limits the number of providers a family is exposed to and makes communication between providers easier.
Residents get to see more than just well child visits while in continuity. A typical resident template is filled with some well child care, follow up or return visits, and a newborn visit. We consider our clinic to be unique in that we place a strong emphasis on working as a team. We have solid resident to attending preceptor ratios as well as nurse and medical assistant support. Each time you are in clinic you are paired with a nurse or medical assistant to provide you with the adequate support you need for that session.
Each afternoon clinic is preceded by lunch with an informal discussion of cases. Our attending preceptors pride themselves on their ability to empower residents and make them feel comfortable making their own medically sound, evidence based decisions on their patients. Faculty and residents have regular feedback and evaluation sessions to ensure that things are going smoothly throughout the year making the experience a positive one for everyone.
In the spring of the first year of residency, each resident meets with Dr. LaChance, the coordinator of the off-site continuity experience to discuss options. Each resident has two half days of continuity sessions during ambulatory and elective months (seven months in each of the last two years). Most of the residents elect to use that second half day for an off-site experience in either a community general pediatrics practice or a subspecialty in their second and third years. In the past years, residents have spent time working in the pediatric infectious diseases clinic, the pediatric hematology-oncology clinic, the endocrinology clinic, pediatric GI clinic, growth and nutrition clinic and Job Corps to name a few. The off-site experience exposes residents to different approaches used by generalists or subspecialists in their offices.
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What is the call schedule on different rotations?
On the inpatient service, there are two day teams, an afternoon team, and one night team. Each PL-1 spends one month on the night team.
Inpatient Coverage
- Total staffing is 11 residents (5 seniors, 6 interns) split between these teams.
- 2 daytime inpatient teams (one senior to two interns). One senior stays late every second day until 7pm with the flexible senior floating in on some weekends.
- 1 flexible senior for admissions in the morning and help in the afternoons with some floating for weekend days to balance days off.
- The night team (one senior and one intern) works 7pm-7am Sunday through Thursday nights.
- An afternoon team (one senior and one intern) who have clinic Tuesday pm, are on the wards noon-midnight Wednesday and Thursday, and work overnight 5pm-7am Friday and 7pm – 7am Saturday.
- Each weekend has a senior and intern from one team and another intern from the other team, ensuring all patients are known to the housestaff on each day.
- Day interns get 4 full days off and no overnights per 4 week block. Day seniors get 5 full days off and no overnights per block. Afternoon and Night teams get 8 full days off per block. Average hours worked for all residents is 60 per week.
Only senior residents rotate through the PICU where call is every fourth night. This is the only 24 call shifts we have in pediatrics.
In the NICU we have a night resident so there is no overnight call. All residents on the block take their turn as the night resident.
On all other rotations, except the emergency department, first year residents take call in the after-hours urgent care clinic Monday-Thursday from 5:30 pm until the patients are gone, sometime between 7:30-10 pm, or on Saturdays from 9am-1:30 pm.
Senior residents participate in beeper call from home for the general pediatrics clinics. Senior residents also take jeopardy (transport or sick call) as well as occasionally work in the after-hours urgent care or telephone call for the clinic. One month in the second year and two months in the third year may be designed as call-free months if requested.
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How have the new guidelines for resident work hours impacted the pediatrics residency program?
We have worked to modify the resident's workday to accommodate the guidelines - if you are unfamiliar with them, you can review them at ACGME. We have also made more recent changes in anticipation of new guidelines in the next two years.
Because our major educational conferences are in the early morning, our residents continue to be able to attend them. Our residents do very little overnight call when on electives or ambulatory rotations; they have very little disruption of their educational experiences while on those rotations. After review of the new IOM recommendation, we have changed the inpatient call system. We have had a longstanding senior night float on the inpatient service; we now have a first year resident night float rotation allowing us to have a night team. We are working this year to anticipate the changes for 2011 and will be in full compliance.
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How does the program deal with resident stress?
We realize that residency can be a time of stress working in a new, challenging environment, caring for medically and socially complex patients and balancing work and home life. On staff there is a resident support group facilitator who is available for ad hoc meetings. Each resident is paired with a faculty advisor who acts as a support person, career counselor and overall advocate. There is an annual resident retreat and graduation bash for which all residents are relieved from any duties. Each class has a half-day mini-retreat (aka academic half-day) in the fall and spring to go over issues such as career planning unique to their group. Many other social events occur throughout the year. (see Activities for a sampling.) Baystate also has a fitness center and discounts at other fitness centers.
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What do your graduates do after residency?
Although this varies year-to-year, about half of our residents go into general pediatrics practice and half go on to fellowship training in a pediatric subspecialty.
Our residents have been very successful obtaining fellowships of their choice. In the last 15 years, our graduates have entered fellowships at institutions, such as Boston University, Johns Hopkins, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Duke University, UC San Diego, and Vancouver Children's Hospital, in subspecialties from Alternative and Complementary Medicine to Critical Care, from Neonatology to Sports Medicine. See Pediatric Residency Graduates page for complete information.
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About Residencies or Fellowships
How many residency and fellowship programs does Baystate Medical Center have?
Baystate Medical Center has 10 ACGME-accredited residency programs and 17 fellowship programs with approximately 300 residents and fellows.
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Are residents involved in teaching medical students?
Yes. According to Baystate Medical Center policy, the position description of both residents and fellows includes:
- participation in the educational activities of the training program
- as appropriate, assumption of responsibility for teaching and supervising other residents and
students
- participation in institutional orientation and education programs and other activities involving the clinical staff.
Since Baystate Medical Center is the Western Campus of Tufts University School of Medicine, each resident is granted a Clinical Instructor faculty appointment.
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Do residents have a voice in decision-making?
Each department has an education committee on which appointed residents sit. In addition, Baystate Medical Center's Graduate Medical Education Committee has resident representatives from each program.
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Are there opportunities to meet residents and fellows from other departments?
Baystate has a number of interdepartmental educational activities designed for, or open to, residents and fellows, such as:
- REACH (Residents Educated in Alternative Cultures and Health), whose programs are open to all with an interest in international health
- WAAM (Women Advancing and Achieving in Medicine), an organization of women physicians and mid-level providers
- BRASS (Baystate Residency Academic Seminar Series) that covers all the curricular topics required by the ACGME Common Requirements and Institutional Requirements in an environment that fosters collaboration across Baystate residencies and fellowships
- Grand Rounds
- Literature and Medicine, an award-winning, hospital-based, reading and discussion program for health care professionals
- Schwartz Center Rounds, an open forum for caregivers to discuss difficult emotional and social issues that arise in caring for patients
In addition, the Baystate Resident Spouse Association provides a wonderful chance to socialize with other residents and fellows and their families. There are also social events, including orientation, a bus tour of the community and a holiday party, scheduled throughout the year.
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What library resources are available?
Baystate Medical Center’s Health Sciences Library is the largest medical reference library in the region. The facility also contains a full computer lab, onsite and online bookstore, reference services, full-text journals and books, journal subscriptions, and free Geographic Information Systems (GIS) training and educational materials.
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Where do we eat at the hospital?
As housestaff, your meals at the cafeteria are subsidized by the hospital. Baystate Medical Center has a very extensive selection of food in its cafeteria. Pizza, hot and cold sandwiches, sushi, baked goods, hot breakfasts, a salad bar are available every day. In addition to traditional grill offerings, there are daily specials, such as shrimp linguine and stir fry, cooked to order. Fruit, yogurt, cereal, chips are also sold. Kosher and vegetarian options are available. There is also an Atwaters Restaurant located off the main lobby of the hospital.
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Where do we park?
Baystate Medical Center provides free, on-campus parking for residents and fellows in their own specially-designated lot.
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About Baystate Medical Center
Where is Baystate Medical Center?
In addition to being strategically located in scenic western Massachusetts, the Springfield area has a lot to offer. From U. Conn. and U. Mass Basketball to the Hall of Fame, from Springfield's Falcons to the New England Blizzard, from the Springfield Symphony to the Hartford Opera, there are unlimited things to do. Plenty of local parks, museums, theaters and culture for everyone.
Northampton, Mass., located just a mere 20 minute commute from the hospital, offers much of the activity of a large city but in the safe, convenient setting of a town surrounded by natural beauty. Northampton is the home of Smith College and central to the other institutions comprising the "5-college" region, including the University of Massachusetts, Mt. Holyoke College, Amherst College, and Hampshire College. Northampton has attracted artists, writers, and performers of all types and it's music scene is nationally recognized. It's streets are filled with coffee houses, movie theaters and restaurants representing virtually every nationality. It is a place that must be seen to be believed.
Driving Times to Local Areas:
| Albany |
(90 min) |
| Berkshires |
(45 min) |
| Boston |
(90 min) |
| Cape Cod |
(2.5 hours) |
| Coast of Maine |
(90 min) |
| Hartford |
(25 min) |
| New York City |
(3 hours) |
| Vermont (Skiing) |
(1 hour) |
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How does Baystate promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace?
Baystate Health is committed to fostering an environment of diversity, inclusion and cultural competence where all employees are appreciated, fully engaged and supported to work to their full potential. It has established a Diversity Council whose members represent a cross-section of the organization, and an Office of Diversity and Inclusion which is involved in finding better ways to recruit, retain and promote an inclusive workforce.
In 2011, Baystate was named a leader in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Healthcare Equality Index (HEI), one of just six health networks in the country singled out for the honor.
Examples of Baystate's diversity-related initiatives include:
- a program for leaders designed to explore personal attitudes toward differences and help managers learn how to support an inclusive environment
- the first regional conference on transgender health, hosted by Baystate's Office of Continuing Education, Office of Diversity, and Women Advancing and Achieving in Medicine
- creation of a new international heath travel grant program by REACH (Residents Educated in Alternative Cultures and Health)
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Will Baystate help my significant other find employment?
Our "Relocation Information" page provides links to helpful job-seeking resources in the area. In addition, Baystate's Human Resources Department maintains a career opportunities site where current job openings can be browsed and applications submitted online.
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Is Baystate a "green" workplace?
To promote healthier communities both locally and globally, Baystate has pledged to implement and maintain operations and processes that protect our environment and support good health. It has a Green Team made up of employees from both clinical and non-clinical areas, including Environmental Services, Purchasing, Engineering, Food & Nutrition Services, Surgery, Baystate Children's Hospital, Marketing & Communications, and more. Initiatives include:
- Using locally grown produce in Baystate Health cafeterias
- Completing energy efficiency upgrades in hospital offices and corridors that will lower electric energy use by 20 million combined kilowatt hours over the next fifteen years, lowering operating costs, improving air quality, and reducing air pollution and gas emissions
- Recycling paper, cardboard, metals and batteries
Baystate Medical Center’s Hospital of the Future embraces the principles of efficiency, sustainability and patient comfort, following the Green Guide for Health Care, the health care industry’s first quantifiable, sustainable design toolkit integrating enhanced environmental and health principles and practices into the planning, design, construction, operations and maintenance of health care facilities. The Hospital of the Future features:
- Green vegetated roof that will reduce water run-off and cool building, adding insulation and reducing heat to roof
- Interior skylights to bring daylight to interior spaces, reducing energy requirements.
- Electricity also will be conserved through the use of energy-efficient lights. Light sensors will allow use of daylight whenever possible and lower lighting levels at night.
- Exterior lighting will be controlled to reduce lighting in the neighborhood.
- Landscaping will emphasize native plant types and green maintenance techniques. A
rainwater collection system and water efficient landscaping will be used for irrigation.
See The Greening of Baystate.
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Does Baystate provide child care?
There is no child care onsite, but Baystate's Preschool Enrichment Team (P.E.T.) offers all Baystate Health employees assistance with their search for high quality childcare. Services include:
- Information and referral services to: early childhood programs, child care centers, family child care homes, nursery schools, Head Start, school age programs, and summer camps
- Referrals for families with disabled or special needs children
- Checklist for choosing and comparing child care settings
- Information about a caregiver for your child in your home
- Telephone consultation with a child care specialist
- Child care financial support/assistance information.
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About Springfield and the Surrounding Community
What's it like to live there?
Considered the "crossroads of New England," Western Massachusetts offers convenient access to a wide variety of outstanding features that make for a rich quality of life for Baystate Health staff.
Western Massachusetts is known for its distinguished arts community, historical sites and first-class recreational features. Among its offerings are:
- Some of the best skiing on the East coast in Vermont, New Hampshire and the Berkshires.
- Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
- Old Sturbridge Village
- Fly fishing on some of the area's fine rivers and in the Quabbin Reservoir.
- Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden
- Emily Dickinson Homestead, Amherst
- Whitewater rafting, kayaking and canoeing and other water sports.
- Tanglewood, summer home of the Boston Pops
- Six Flags New England Theme Park
- Hancock Shaker Village
- Hiking and mountain climbing in the Berkshires and White Mountains.
- Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art
- Arrowhead, Home of Herman Melville, Pittsfield
- Bright Nights - New England's largest holiday lighting display
- Historic Deerfield
Our region also has a proud education tradition and is home to the Five Colleges consortium of Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. (See the Life in the Pioneer Valley for information about arts and culture, outdoor recreation, weather and more.)
Springfield lies at the intersection of two major Interstate routes: the north-south I-91 and the east-west I-90 (Mass Pike), giving it convenient access to recreational and cultural opportunities in:
- Boston (1 1/2 hours)
- Hartford (1/2 hour)
- New York City ( 2 1/2 hours)
- New Haven (1 hour)
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Where should I live?
Springfield Massachusetts, a mid-sized city of 180,000, and its surrounding communities in the Pioneer Valley form a metropolitan population of 500,000. Interstates 90 & 91 intersect here, Routes 5 & 10 pass through, and traffic jams are virtually unheard of.
So you can choose to live downtown, in a suburban community, or out in the country – even in nearby Northampton or Amherst - and still be within a 15-20 minute easy commute to the medical center. There are many attractive options whether you rent or purchase. From turn of the century farmhouses to historic brick townhouses and gracious suburban homes, housing choices are both abundant, diverse and affordable. The distinctive mix of urban and rural areas and easily accessible cultural and recreational activities makes the Pioneer Valley a uniquely pleasant place to live and work.
Many residents live in the five college community of Northampton, Amherst, Hadley and South Hadley or in nearby communities such as Easthampton and Holyoke. Others live in historic areas of Springfield, particularly in the Downtown or Forest Park areas. For residents with families, there are several suburbs with excellent school systems.
For helpful information about moving to our community, visit the Relocation Information page.
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