Program Director:
Colette C. Mull, M.D.

Associate Director:
Christopher J. Russo, M.D.

PROGRAM GOAL AND OBJECTIVES

The overall goal of the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship Program at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children is to produce a physician clinically proficient in the management of the acutely ill or injured child in the setting of an emergency department, and an educator and scholar in the field of pediatric emergency medicine. This goal is accomplished through the achievement of the following four objectives.

1) Clinical Proficiency

Through a structured training program that meets the requirements set forth by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, each fellow will receive the rigorous clinical experience and teaching needed to become proficient at caring for the acutely ill or injured child.

2) Educator Competency

The training program’s faculty will assist fellows in developing requisite skills and demonstrating competence in the teaching of current knowledge in pediatric emergency medicine to nursing staff, pre-hospital personnel, medical students, resident physicians from different disciplines, and the community (both medical and lay).

3) Scholarly Activity

Each fellow will be mentored in her/his acquisition of the knowledge base and skills needed to engage in meaningful scholarly activity. Upon completion of the training program, achievement of this objective will be reflected in a scholarly “work product." This will contribute to the existing pediatric emergency medicine fund of knowledge and will fulfill, if applicable, the American Board of Pediatrics scholarly activity requirement for eligibility for Pediatric Emergency Medicine Board Certification.

4) Administrator Competency

Each fellow will be exposed to the administrative aspects of the practice of pediatric emergency medicine. This will include learning about pre-hospital and inter-hospital care organization, quality assurance and improvement, personnel management, public relations, child advocacy, medical-legal issues, and finances and billing rules and regulations.

PROGRAM SETTING

St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children (SCHC) is a non-sectarian full-service children’s hospital, the home of the SCHC Pediatric Residency Program and the primary pediatric teaching facility for Drexel University College of Medicine and its affiliated Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship and Emergency Medicine Residency Programs. The hospital is set on an urban campus located in eastern North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is less than 30 minutes from the Drexel University College of Medicine campus. The hospital has 183 beds, including an eight-bed pediatric intensive care unit, a 30-bed neonatal intensive care unit, a 12-bed intermediate care unit, and an eight-bed cardiac critical care unit. It conducts 160,000 outpatient visits each year.

The hospital’s tradition of excellence can be traced back to its humble beginnings over 125 years ago when it was established to meet the medical needs of the children of the mill workers in North Philadelphia. This tradition encompasses not only a deep commitment to caring for the children in its community and for those referred to the hospital for specialty services from other parts of the country and the world but also a faculty that is passionately dedicated to teaching and academic growth. SCHC is well known for its “neighborhood feel” which provides a warm and inviting medical home for patients and their families and affords medical professionals the opportunity to forge strong collaborative ties and lasting friendships with one another. SCHC is a regional referral center for multiple subspecialty services. The hospital employs state-of-the-art electronic technologies to facilitate patient care, research, and faculty communication. It fosters a spirit of inquiry through educational resources available through user-friendly hospital and university libraries.

SCHC’s Emergency Department (ED) treats 47,000 patients annually and handles a broad range of pediatric emergencies. It is a Level I trauma center and a 911-receiving facility. Patient age ranges from newborn to 21 years old. The Department has 24 acute beds, and a resuscitation bay. The acuity level is high, and more than 50 percent of inpatient admissions come from the ED. There is a Fast Track area where children with non-urgent problems are seen. SCHC’s ED enjoys an excellent reputation among the community physicians and referring facilities. The ED directs the SCHC Transport Service which transports about 1,800 children each year from over 50 institutions. The ED is supervised 24 hours a day by six full-time and five part-time pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) attending physicians, all board certified or board eligible in PEM, and six general pediatricians who staff the Fast Track area of the Department. The PEM physician staff is made up of both emergency medicine–trained and pediatrics-trained individuals whose combined clinical experience and educational background afford a rich learning environment for PEM fellows. Pediatric, Family Medicine, and Emergency Medicine resident physicians from various training programs staff the ED. SCHC is also the pediatric clerkship site for Drexel University College of Medicine medical students, with the ED forming an integral part of their experience in pediatrics. The ED plays an active role in the teaching of resident physicians and medical students and has an active clinical research program.

The Drexel University College of Medicine/SCHC Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship Program offers two fellowship positions yearly. Both emergency medicine residency–trained applicants and pediatrics residency–trained applicants are welcome. The SCHC PEM Fellowship Program schedules most of its core and elective rotations at SCHC. Trauma, general emergency medicine, child maltreatment and advocacy, and toxicology rotations are offered off-site. Fellows can arrange for elective rotations at SCHC or at other institutions.

AVAILABLE SCHC ELECTIVES

Adolescent Medicine
Allergy
Cardiology
Clinical Genetics and Dysmorphology
Community Emergency Medicine
Dental Medicine
Developmental Pediatrics
Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism
Gastroenterology
Hematology
HIV/AIDS Program
Infectious Diseases
Nephrology
Neurology
Neurosurgery
Oncology
Ophthalmology
Orthopedic Surgery
Otolaryngology
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Psychiatry
Pulmonology
Radiology
Rheumatology
Sports Medicine
Surgery/Trauma
Ultrasound
Urology
Other: The fellow physician is required to obtain approval from the Fellowship Director if he/she is interested in creating or participating in an elective not listed above.