Pediatrics

Pediatric faculty members participate in a number of courses for first- and second-year students including Problem-Based Learning, Human Growth and Development, system-specific lectures in block courses, and a variety of electives allowing students to observe and question pediatric practices.

In the third year, each student is required to take a six-week clerkship in general pediatrics. The student may choose this clerkship at one of several Tufts teaching hospitals. Outpatient experiences are offered in all settings, and a didactic curriculum, which is kept as consistent as possible from site to site, further ensures that students will have an excellent educational experience.

Students are assigned newly admitted patients during inpatient ward rotations. Along with the house staff, they are responsible for the day-to-day care of these patients within the limits of their ability. Students are expected to participate in daily work rounds, present patients, and take an active part in attending rounds. Attendance at weekly grand rounds and the regularly scheduled conferences for the house staff is required.

During the fourth year, monthly electives are offered in all inpatient wards of the Boston Floating Hospital for Infants and Children and in some of the community hospitals in the Tufts network. Students act as subinterns on inpatient electives, taking responsibility for their own patients under the supervision of senior pediatric residents. In outpatient and subspecialty electives, students are the first members of the team to see the patient. Patients are then discussed with a senior resident or an attending physician before final disposition is arranged, and the student writes the consultation note. Didactic teaching through conferences, seminars, and rounds are arranged by each service for their students, members of their own staff, and house staff.

Subspecialty and research areas within the department include cardiology, clinical genetics, critical care pediatric medicine, developmental and behavioral pediatrics, endocrinology, gastroenterology and nutrition, general pediatrics, hematology/oncology, inborn errors of metabolism, infectious disease, neonatology, nephrology, neurology, pulmonology/allergy and rheumatology.