INTERGRATING INTERNAL MEDICINE AND PEIDATRICS
WORKING TOGETHER TO CREATE SYNERGY

In our program, two different departments, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, work together to create synergy - results that exceed what each department could create on its own.

Combined Med/Peds electives in most fields are offered to the Med/Peds resident. Weekly continuity clinic conferences discussing ambulatory care across the age groups occur in the Med/Peds clinic. A successful yearly Med/Peds visiting professorship invites nationally active Med/Peds faculty to give a combined departmental Medicine and Pediatric Grand Rounds as well as attend morning reports, ward rounds and noon conferences in both departments over a two day period.

The coordinated efforts of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics give residents a balance of primary care, tertiary care and education in both public and private facilities. The two departments integrate teaching staffs, medical technology, hospital training programs, libraries and research facilities to give each house officer optimal training. Tulane's Internal Medicine faculty of more than 100 and a Pediatric faculty of more than 80 give residents educational opportunities in all subspecialties.

The four-year program consists of three 16-months levels of training. Residents alternate between four-month blocks of Internal Medicine and four-month blocks of Pediatrics. As you advance through each block of training, you assume increasing levels of responsibility. During the first 16 months, you will work as an intern in both inpatient and outpatient care under the supervision of designated full-time staff and experienced residents. In the next level, as a resident you concentrate more heavily on in-depth training and experience in the subspecialties. The third level develops your supervisory skills in all rotations, enhancing your skills as a generalist while overseeing the work of general ward teams.

Our program's curriculum emphasizes ambulatory care. It ensures that you spend time in general Internal Medicine and Pediatric clinics and subspecialty clinics, as suggested in the Guidelines for Combined Training. The required month of adolescent medicine invites you to explore community based adolescent care and college health. There are 9 months assigned to electives (all subspecialties available) and an opportunity to spend some months doing research.

Residents participate in Continuity Clinic throughout the four years. Now the first year is spent at the Tulane Internal Medicine/Pediatrics clinics. Pediatric and adult patients from these clinics, as well as a broad ambulatory knowledge base are then carried to the weekly combined Med/Peds clinic where family care, gynecology as well as small procedures are emphasized for the following three years.
Well baby and well adult care is taught in addition to management of complex disease processes in all age groups. Med/Peds faculty, internists and pediatricians staff these clinics.

Essential to the training are daily morning report and teaching conferences, weekly Grand Rounds, monthly Journal Club for both departments and monthly Medicine/Pediatrics conferences. Also, an opportunity exists to obtain a Masters degree at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. A successful international elective allows one Med/Peds resident each year to visit a third world country and experience its healthcare system and culture.

Residents also benefit from the personal guidance of faculty members. Full time faculty members from each department serve as advisors in their fields. The Medicine/Pediatrics Program Director is closely involved as a counselor, teacher, and coordinator. Three additional clinical faculty in Med/Peds participate in teaching in continuity clinic and three other faculty in subspecialties are graduates of Med/Peds programs.

RENOWNED FACILITIES – DEVELOPING COMPETENCE AT RENOWNED FACILITIES

Residents pursue the majority of their training in three hospitals which offer a wide, unique range of clinical experiences. These hospitals, located on adjacent blocks, form a center of medical excellence with a distinguished past and promising future.

 TULANE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER

Tulane University Medical Center attracts patients from throughout Louisiana, the Gulf South and Latin America. A combined 300-bed acute care center and ambulatory care teaching facility, it is a multi-specialty regional tertiary care center, providing inpatient and outpatient facilities for the School of Medicine ’s clinical practices. Tulane also is a Center for clinical and basic scientific research.

More than 150,000 patients a year come to the hospital for evaluation and treatment. The hospital has extensive, state-of-the-art equipment in radiology, nuclear medicine and ultrasound. It is equipped with a blood flow laboratory, bone marrow and solid organ transplant center, sleep disorders center, and a cancer center.

INTERNAL MEDICINE AT TULANE

Residents rotate through the hospital as part of their general medicine training. The hospital offers primary patient care in all Internal Medicine subspecialties. Tulane’s critical care facilities include a medical intensive care unit, cardiac catheterization lab and chronic hemodialysis unit. House officers have the responsibility of evaluating and caring for inpatients under the supervision of faculty. An active Internal Medicine consulting service allows for excellent training in preoperative clearance and exposure to clinical problems in surgical fields. Many weekly medicine and medicine subspecialty conferences, which address clinical topics as well as issues such as medical ethics and economics, complement training.

A unique “Resident as Teachers” elective prepares residents with valuable skills as educators, and allows them to apply these abilities in a variety of settings with students and residents.

PEDIATRTICS AT TULANE

The Tulane Hospital for Children, a hospital within a hospital, is located on four floors of the seven-story Tulane University Medical Center. It houses 85 pediatric beds and a full range of outpatient facilities supported by complete pediatric diagnostic services.

The inpatient pediatric services include a 23 bed younger children’s unit, a 12 bed adolescent unit, an 11 bed pediatric intensive care unit, 3 bed step down unit, 29 beds for neonatal intensive and intermediate care, and a 7 bed pediatric bone marrow unit.

During rotations on each of the inpatient units, the house officer teams are the primary physicians for all pediatric medical patients and are responsible for writing all orders. In addition, they serve as consultants to the pediatric surgical services with the supervision of the pediatric faculty. Daily teaching/attending rounds with the admitting physicians ensure the best possible patient care and maximize learning about your patients. Night call is every fourth night on this and all rotations.

During outpatient rotations and electives, the resident will attend related general and subspecialty outpatient clinics at the Tulane Hospital for Children.

MEDICAL CENTER OF LOUISIANA CHARITY HOSPITAL AND UNIVERISITY HOSPITAL CAMPUSES

Founded is 1735, Charity is one of the nation’s oldest hospitals, legendary for its size, the scope of its medical services and the educational opportunities it gives to physicians-in-training.

The hospital’s current massive, art-deco building, with 700 licensed beds, opened in 1939. Each year Charity admits 40,000 patients and logs one million outpatient and emergency room visits. Patients are charged based on their ability to pay.

As the oldest continuously operating hospital in the United States, Charity has undergone a number of building changes in the past 258 years. Since the present hospital was built in 1939 and many areas required updating, the State of Louisiana purchased a new and nearby private hospital (Hotel Dieu) and relocated all pediatric and neonatal services and most medicine services to this site. Other facilities, including Tulane’s Clinical Research Center, the Medical Emergency Room, Accident Room and an Adult Medical Intensive Care Unit remain at the Charity Campus.

 INTERNAL MEDICINE AT UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

Tulane’s division consists of four general medical services as well as subspecialtyunits for infectious disease, hemodialysis, leukemia and coronary and medical intensive care facilities. More than 48,000
patients are seen annually in the hospital’s general internal medicine and subspecialty clinics, staffed by Tulane faculty and residents. Each intern is the primary physician for 8 to 12 ward patients and participates in the general medicine ambulatory clinic on alternating weeks. Faculty attending physicians and senior residents supervise interns. Consultations are available in all medical subspecialties.

VETERANS AFFAIRS MEDICAL CENTER

A 530-bed general medical and surgical hospital, the Veterans Affairs Medical Center is directly across the street from Tulane School of Medicine and Charity Hospital. Two hundred sixty beds are reserved for medicine and medical subspecialty patients. There are about 7,000 admissions each year to the medical service. The hospital has a coronary care unit, medical intensive care unit, chronic hemodialysis unit and cardiac catheterization laboratory.

The size of a well-organized department of research with a full-time research director, the VA has a large endocrinology research laboratory as well as general medical, hematology, radioisotope and cardiopulmonary research laboratories. Its Department of Medicine includes a full-time Chief of Medicine, 27 staff physicians and 30 consultant physicians who make ward rounds and conduct regular teaching conferences.

Residents have one- to two-month rotations in general medicine and the medical subspecialties. In addition to all of the recognized subspecialties in Internal Medicine, there is a fully staffed division of primary care medicine with emphasis on emergency and outpatient diagnosis and treatment.   

FELLOWSHIPS – A WELL-ROUNDED PROGRAM

Our program trains physicians to be extraordinarily well-rounded. After completing the Internal Medicine-Pediatrics residency, physicians are prepared to practice in primary care – in private or academic setting – or to enter subspecialty training. The following fellowships are available at Tulane for residents who wish to pursue this interest:

MEDICINE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMS

PEDIATRIC FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMS

TULANE MED-PEDS ROTATIONS
Each rotation is 16 months

*Two weeks from one of these months are spent in the Accident Room during the first year

** This is a suggested schedule. Actual schedules will vary and are subject to change.

TULANE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

MED-PEDS INTERN BENEFITS

Below is a brief summary of benefits as a PGY-1.

VACATION: In the first 12 months as a PGY-1 Intern 3 weeks paid vacation divided into two segments: a 1-week paid vacation and a 2- week paid vacation is received. (After the first year - 4-weeks of paid vacation.)

 PAID HOLIDAYS: Up to 7 days paid holiday during either Christmas or New Years.

 EDUCATION LEAVE: in your 4th year -trip to National AAP Conference – registration, the department pays for airfare, hotel, and meals. Up to 5 days per year may be granted by the program director to attend educational programs.

HEALTH, LIFE AND DISABILITY INSURANCE: 100% paid by department.

BOOK ALLOWANCE: $150.00/year ($100.00 Pediatrics / $50.00 Medicine)

FREE PARKING IN NEARBY GARAGES

BEREAVEMENT LEAVE

 SICK LEAVE: In the first 12 months as a PGY-1 Intern - 2 weeks paid sick leave is granted.

 MATERNITY/PATERNITY LEAVE: In the first 12 months as a PGY-1 Intern, vacation and sick leave can be combined for a total of 5 weeks paid maternity/paternity leave.

ON-CALL MEALS: Tulane’s cafeteria includes New Orleans’ delights, such as gumbo, red beans and rice, and fried catfish.

LAB COATS: The Department of Medicine provides you with two lab coats.

PAGERS: Text pagers will be handed out during orientation.

DISCOUNTED DAY CARE AT KIDOPOLIS: an affiliate of Tulane Medical School: Note there is approximately a 1 year waiting list for infants– so if you are planning to start a family, give them a call soon. (504) 988-7479

 FACULTY RATES AT TULANE UNIVERSITY HEALTH CLUB: The Reily Center is a well-known complex with 150,000 sq. ft. of activity space; and programming opportunities including Intramural Sports, Club Sports, Instructional Programs, and Fitness and Wellness Programs.