Can anyone provide information about the peds program here? Their website is pretty short on details. So far I've gathered its a new program with 6 residents per year (currently at 12) and they have an emphasis on community health? Appreciate any input (how many beds, yearly in patient visits, etc)
Info on Virginia Tech Carilion Peds
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Definitely interested in more info about this program too if anybody has some! I know Vita is a pgy1 there, so you may try PMing him for information.
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I did my 3rd year rotations at Carilion (including peds) so I can give a little insight, although I agree that Vita would be the best person to respond since I'm only a 4th year now 
The Children's Hospital is within the larger Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. They have a 60-bed level III NICU (3rd largest NICU in VA seeing around 600 babies yearly) and the only PICU in the region (not sure how many beds), so a lot of the serious cases got sent to us from smaller hospitals. They also have a designated Peds ED (again not sure how many beds). That's all I can remember off the top of my head. I will say that I really enjoyed my peds rotation. The residents worked really hard, but they were friendly and seemed happy! I hope Vita can chime in.
The Children's Hospital is within the larger Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. They have a 60-bed level III NICU (3rd largest NICU in VA seeing around 600 babies yearly) and the only PICU in the region (not sure how many beds), so a lot of the serious cases got sent to us from smaller hospitals. They also have a designated Peds ED (again not sure how many beds). That's all I can remember off the top of my head. I will say that I really enjoyed my peds rotation. The residents worked really hard, but they were friendly and seemed happy! I hope Vita can chime in.
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Hi everyone!
I am a PGY1 at VTC (also, a "her," rather than a "him" ).
They are working on the website and updating it.
Overall some info: ilovefishing provided good info re: beds. I honestly am not sure how many beds there are in the ED or PICU either, as I haven't done those rotations so far.
The program is focused on providing more behavioral/psych and thus requires more rotations in those fields than other programs I interviewed at. I think this was mainly because many General Peds docs end up treating these kids and there hadn't been much training in the past.
That being said, I think our program has a good mix of people who want to subspecialize and those who want to do General Peds. Personally, I think I want to do Peds Endo and my program director has been great to give me opportunities to be exposed to that.
Easily the best part of the program is the faculty and the size. We are a smaller program, so I feel that each of us get to individualize our education quite a bit. The faculty all trained at some top notch hospitals and they are all SO excited and enthusiastic about the program (since it is still so new).
I think that the hospital gets a good mix of patients. We have a lot of oddball cases. Our Peds Genetic doc is also highly involved with the residency program so I feel that we get a lot more genetic education than I saw at other programs during my rotations as a med student.
I would saw the downside is mostly for people who want to do PICU. Our PICU is great, but we don't do transplant medicine here so if someone really has their heart set on getting some of that experience during residency, then maybe somewhere else would be better. BUT I do think that our program has plenty of PICU experience built in, and so if you came here it wouldn't put you at a disadvantage for any PICU fellowship (not sure how much exposure the general peds residents at other hospitals get to compare).
Our NICU is huge and almost always full. We regularly take NICU babies on the general Peds floor who just aren't ready to be d/c'ed yet (feeder/grower) simply because the NICU is full. They have 60 beds up there, which is the second largest in the state.
The hospital in general is a level 1 center. We have residencies in Peds, IM, ED, FM, OB-GYN, Neurosurgery, Surgery, Podiatry, Orthopedics (I think is starting this year - unsure), and then several fellowships as well. As a Peds resident we work directly with FM and ED interns, and obviously have a lot of interaction with OB and Surgery as well.
If anyone has specific questions, please ask! Otherwise I might just babble all night.
I am a PGY1 at VTC (also, a "her," rather than a "him"
). They are working on the website and updating it.
Overall some info: ilovefishing provided good info re: beds. I honestly am not sure how many beds there are in the ED or PICU either, as I haven't done those rotations so far.
The program is focused on providing more behavioral/psych and thus requires more rotations in those fields than other programs I interviewed at. I think this was mainly because many General Peds docs end up treating these kids and there hadn't been much training in the past.
That being said, I think our program has a good mix of people who want to subspecialize and those who want to do General Peds. Personally, I think I want to do Peds Endo and my program director has been great to give me opportunities to be exposed to that.
Easily the best part of the program is the faculty and the size. We are a smaller program, so I feel that each of us get to individualize our education quite a bit. The faculty all trained at some top notch hospitals and they are all SO excited and enthusiastic about the program (since it is still so new).
I think that the hospital gets a good mix of patients. We have a lot of oddball cases. Our Peds Genetic doc is also highly involved with the residency program so I feel that we get a lot more genetic education than I saw at other programs during my rotations as a med student.
I would saw the downside is mostly for people who want to do PICU. Our PICU is great, but we don't do transplant medicine here so if someone really has their heart set on getting some of that experience during residency, then maybe somewhere else would be better. BUT I do think that our program has plenty of PICU experience built in, and so if you came here it wouldn't put you at a disadvantage for any PICU fellowship (not sure how much exposure the general peds residents at other hospitals get to compare).
Our NICU is huge and almost always full. We regularly take NICU babies on the general Peds floor who just aren't ready to be d/c'ed yet (feeder/grower) simply because the NICU is full. They have 60 beds up there, which is the second largest in the state.
The hospital in general is a level 1 center. We have residencies in Peds, IM, ED, FM, OB-GYN, Neurosurgery, Surgery, Podiatry, Orthopedics (I think is starting this year - unsure), and then several fellowships as well. As a Peds resident we work directly with FM and ED interns, and obviously have a lot of interaction with OB and Surgery as well.
If anyone has specific questions, please ask! Otherwise I might just babble all night.
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Oops. . sorry for the inaccurate object pronoun usage! Thanks so much for the info, Vita! And thank you for your response too, ilovefishing. How much of an additional focus in behavioral/psych does VTC include in their program? Is it an additional rotation or two, or a much broader focus throughout the entire residency? Does this additional focus also include child neuro?? Also, do you feel as if the residents in other specialties work well with the peds residents? Sorry for all the questions. . maybe I should save some for the interview!
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I tried to answer this before but my whole post got deleted!
Here it goes again.
As far as developmental/ behavioral/ psych - we do a few extra rotations spread across the three years. In our other rotations there is just a lot of emphasis on multidisciplinary care, including psych and developmental. We do inpatient child psych as an intern and another as a second year. Additionally, we do a developmental peds rotation as a second year (I believe most programs do this). I am unsure which other rotations are extra.
We have the option to do Peds neuro as an elective as early as first year. I will be doing that next month. We also do Community Peds rotations, which do have emphasis in helping families with barriers to health care and/or our chronic kid families. Some residents end up working with the Blue Ridge Autism Center. I just did this rotation and we were working to set up a partnership with the local refugee centers as well. Oh, and we do Zumba in the projects! There is a group here that goes to the various housing projects each week and does a little exercise program (usually Zumba) and then we do their BMI and give little healthy eating presentations.
I'm getting off track.
As far as the other residents in the hospital: I'd say most programs work well with each other. We work closely with FM and EM because they rotate through the wards and newborn nursery (FM) with us. We also work with the Psych residents and the child psych fellows, but I haven't had that rotation yet so haven't interacted with them much. Obviously, we speak frequently with Surgery (and occasionally Neurosurgery, though that is more so in the PICU).
Overall, everyone has been really nice. No bad attitudes, no hostility among the programs, etc. Since I went to VCOM I know people in multiple programs (IM, EM, OB-GYN, FM) and they all seem to be very happy as well.
Most people in the hospital are nice and friendly, as is the Southern way.
Oh, and our nurses are awesome.
Here it goes again.
As far as developmental/ behavioral/ psych - we do a few extra rotations spread across the three years. In our other rotations there is just a lot of emphasis on multidisciplinary care, including psych and developmental. We do inpatient child psych as an intern and another as a second year. Additionally, we do a developmental peds rotation as a second year (I believe most programs do this). I am unsure which other rotations are extra.
We have the option to do Peds neuro as an elective as early as first year. I will be doing that next month. We also do Community Peds rotations, which do have emphasis in helping families with barriers to health care and/or our chronic kid families. Some residents end up working with the Blue Ridge Autism Center. I just did this rotation and we were working to set up a partnership with the local refugee centers as well. Oh, and we do Zumba in the projects! There is a group here that goes to the various housing projects each week and does a little exercise program (usually Zumba) and then we do their BMI and give little healthy eating presentations.
I'm getting off track.
As far as the other residents in the hospital: I'd say most programs work well with each other. We work closely with FM and EM because they rotate through the wards and newborn nursery (FM) with us. We also work with the Psych residents and the child psych fellows, but I haven't had that rotation yet so haven't interacted with them much. Obviously, we speak frequently with Surgery (and occasionally Neurosurgery, though that is more so in the PICU).
Overall, everyone has been really nice. No bad attitudes, no hostility among the programs, etc. Since I went to VCOM I know people in multiple programs (IM, EM, OB-GYN, FM) and they all seem to be very happy as well.
Most people in the hospital are nice and friendly, as is the Southern way.
Oh, and our nurses are awesome.
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Thanks, Vita! You're awesome! And, VTC seems like a great place to train!
