Our graduates report feeling very well-prepared for the next step of their careers. We offer many opportunities for residents to individualize their training to meet their specific career goals.
In addition to a robust selection of clinical rotations, our residents participate in multiple organized learning sessions to enhance their education and ensure strong preparation for the pediatric board exam. Finally, we reinforce the importance of each pediatrician’s engagement in his or her community through comprehensive training in advocacy.
Our Locations
Brenner Children's Hospital
Brenner Children’s Hospital is a 144-bed “hospital within a hospital” founded in 1986. This $132 million facility is the only children’s hospital in northwest North Carolina. The pediatric emergency department (including the Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma) became the first Level 1 pediatric trauma center in the state in 2011 and is one of only 51 centers in the country. The inpatient pediatric ward comprises five floors of Brenner Children’s Hospital and includes pediatric and neonatal intensive care units plus the Wake Forest Birth Center, opened in 2019. The Birth Center was recently voted one of America’s Best Maternity Hospitals for 2022 by Newsweek. More than 3,600 children are admitted to Brenner Children’s Hospital each year, and more than 28,000 pediatric subspecialty visits occur annually at the hospital-based outpatient clinics.
Downtown Health Plaza
The Downtown Health Plaza (DHP) is the largest primary care outpatient department in the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist system and the home of our resident continuity clinics. This multidisciplinary clinic, including Internal Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology in addition to Pediatrics, is strategically located in a healthcare manpower shortage area and has a unique attachment to the underserved east Winston-Salem community. It is certified as a level 3 patient-centered medical home by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, meaning that our residents are taught a model of care placing patients at the forefront. Radiology, lab and pharmacy are located on-site. Patients are screened for the social determinants of health at every visit, and we have an onsite Food Pharmacy, as well as funds to support transportation and other basic needs for our patients. Close partnerships exist with many community resources, and several are co-located within the DHP. The DHP is the primary outpatient teaching site for the residency program.
Rotation Overview
Our inpatient pediatric ward comprises three floors of Brenner Children's Hospital.
While on service, residents are exposed to both general pediatrics and subspecialty patients, including, cardiology, nephrology, rheumatology, gastroenterology, pulmonology, infectious diseases, neurology, hematology/oncology, and endocrinology.
Additionally we assist the various surgical specialties (ENT, Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Ophthalmology, Urology, and Pediatric Surgery) in the care of admitted patients.
We have four wards teams – one inpatient subspecialty team, one inpatient hematology/oncology team, and two general pediatrics teams. The subspecialty team is comprised of a second and a third year resident, the hematology/oncology team includes a second year and an intern, and our general pediatrics teams are comprised of one second or third year and two interns. Interns act as the primary physician and point of contact for patients and their families. Our upper level residents are given autonomy to run their team with guidance from our hospitalist and subspecialty faculty. Residents only have four 24-hour calls through all of residency, with none during intern year. The average intern load through the course of the year is five to eight patients.
While in the PICU residents cover a variety of patients including trauma, respiratory failure, post-transplant, congenital heart defects, ECMO, etc.
Brenner Children's Hospital NICU offers subspecialty pediatric care including, pediatric surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, and ECMO.
At Brenner Children's Hospital, the intensive care unit and the intermediate care unit handle referrals from nurseries and NICUs across the state, offering residents a diversity of patient populations and pathology.
- 24/7 NNP/PA coverage with additional MD/DO and PA Resident coverage during daytime, in addition to medical students rotating through the NICU
- 4 teams of providers: 2 resident teams and 2 NNP/PA teams
- On-site Level IV NICU adjacent to The Birthing Center, with immediate access to neonatologists and 69 beds (51 single patient rooms)
- Innovative palliative care program
The rapidly expanding pediatric emergency department at Brenner Children's Hospital offers our residents experience in caring for both emergencies and acute care visits.
Our pediatric emergency department carries a Level I Trauma Center designation along with the Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma. We have more than 37,000 pediatric visits each year with a 12-14% admission rate through our 24 bed state-of-the-art ED that opened in March 2011. Our core faculty is comprised of 10 pediatric emergency department physicians, all with specific fellowship training in pediatric emergency medicine. The department also offers a fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine, taking two fellows each year.
Subspecialty clinics take place daily in the pediatric outpatient clinic, with more than 25,000 visits annually.
We offer all major sub-specialties, as well as housing several multidisciplinary clinics such as Brenner FIT, Kids Eat, Cystic Fibrosis clinic, and Cleft clinic which allow families to bring their child in on one day to see all of their various subspecialty providers.
Each house officer is assigned to the Continuity Clinic in the Pediatrics Downtown Health Plaza pediatric outpatient clinic facility.
The Continuity Clinic is a high priority in our program, and residents at all levels are relieved of other duties to attend the clinic throughout the year. Once assigned to a certain clinic day, residents maintain their clinic group throughout their 3 years of residency, building close relationships with the continuity clinic faculty and other residents that share the same day.
Patients include newborns from our nursery at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, all the way through adolescent visits.
As dedicated pediatricians we strive to provide a medical home for our patients, especially those with chronic medical conditions. In addition to well child care, we provide follow-up visits for inpatient and emergency department discharges and acute sick visits. Approximately 60% of the patient population is Hispanic and interpreters are an integral part of our patient care team.