Residency Training Program

Cultivating Curious Minds at Work

The residency program at Seattle Children's Hospital combines both inpatient and ambulatory experiences throughout the three-year period. Residents are exposed to a wide variety of both normal development and pediatric pathology in primary care, acute care and critical care rotations.

No two schedules are alike, since residents have the opportunity to tailor their rotations to enhance future career goals. Ample learning opportunities exist in the form of conferences, didactic teaching sessions and informal team based teaching.

See an example of clinical rotations (PDF).

Year One

The R1 year is designed for residents to acquire the skills necessary to recognize children with manifestations of acute and chronic illness.

These skills are developed through a series of inpatient months on the general medicine service, the hematology/oncology service, the Neonatal ICU, the newborn nursery and consult services on electives, as well as outpatient months in continuity clinic and the Emergency Department. Unlike in many residency programs, R1s are typically given two elective months to explore potential career interests or further develop clinical knowledge base in a particular specialty.

Year Two

The R2 year promotes leadership, teaching and clinical decision-making skills.

A core element of the R2 year is the award-winning primary care experience in a rural setting of the Northwest (referred to as the WWAMI rotation). Regardless of eventual career path, nearly every graduate of our program identifies the WWAMI rotation as one of the most important and meaningful learning experiences in their medical training.

During inpatient ward rotations at Seattle Children's and in the University of Washington Medical Center Newborn Nursery and NICU, R2s play an important role supervising and teaching interns and medical students. Unlike many other residency programs, R2s and R3s serve in the same supervisory role on the wards and in the ICUs, providing two full years of experience in this role.

R2s also further their education in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and Seattle Children’s NICU where they learn about complex medical management of critically ill infants and children. As R2s or R3s, residents rotate through Harborview Medical Center (HMC), the county hospital and the region’s only Level 1 trauma and burn center. Rotations at HMC include consultations in the emergency department, pediatric consulting service for all inpatient trauma and burn patients, and the pediatric trauma intensive care unit.

The remainder of the year consists of outpatient rotations, including required rotations in adolescent and development as well as elective time. These electives offer each resident the opportunity to customize the clinical training experience to meet learning goals.

Year Three

The R3 year of training allows each resident to further enhance their clinical, teaching and leadership skills.

While preparing for the transition to life after residency, considerable elective time is made available for the residents to explore additional training opportunities in pediatrics, hone their skills and concentrate on specific areas of interest.

Second- and third-years also have the opportunity to run a senior-only service of general pediatric patients, providing more autonomy and also providing dedicated time to teaching and quality improvement skills.