Goals and Objectives by Competencies

Introduction

The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston's Residency Program is designed to provide its residents a progressive educational experience with increasing patient care and supervisory responsibilities over a three year training period. The ultimate goal of the Program is to prepare pediatric residents to be competent general pediatricians able to provide comprehensive and coordinated health care to a broad range of pediatric and adolescent patients. The Program's educational experiences are designed to develop the competencies and skills needed to practice high quality community pediatrics. Pediatric residents will also develop sufficient familiarity with the various pediatric subspecialties to participate as effective and productive team members in the care of chronic and complex pediatric conditions.

Written goals and objectives have been established for each of the Program's educational experiences. The following overall goals and objectives are designed to guide the expectations of both pediatric residents and faculty as they implement each of the individual curricular components.

Our Pediatrics residency training program has three principal goals: first, to educate physicians to the highest standards of medical practice; second to provide the best possible care for the patients under our supervision; and third to add to existing medical knowledge through systematic observation, evidence-based and cost-effective patient management and clinical investigation. Succinctly stated, these are:

• To develop Pediatricians who are prepared to serve the fundamental purposes of pediatric medicine through acquisition of the scientific knowledge, clinical skills and personal attributes necessary to meet their responsibilities to patients, the patients' families and to society.

• To promote excellence in the medical care of children and adolescents by developing pediatricians who are prepared to address a broad spectrum of child health care needs in a wide variety of practice settings.

To accomplish these goals, the individual physician must manifest qualities essential to the spirit of service to others. The physician must 

• Cooperate with other members of the team to provide for the welfare of the patient 

•  Work willingly and conscientiously to achieve, whenever possible, a careful and exact diagnosis in each case

• Carefully record all data pertinent to the case and just as carefully reflect upon the importance of changes in the patient's progress

This program provides the opportunity for comprehensive training in pediatrics to students, residents, and fellows. Working as a team, members will contribute to their colleagues’ education as well as to their own.


Teaching

The primary purpose of our program is the teaching of pediatrics. All aspects of patient care and investigation should be conducted with this in mind. No clear separation should exist between the learning opportunities for residents, fellows, and faculty members. Each learns and grows in an atmosphere created by personal attitudes and environmental stimuli. The Department of Pediatrics seeks to provide an environment in which mature learners will be able to satisfy their appetites for knowledge.

One of the most effective means of learning is through teaching; it encourages learners to organize their thinking and information and reveals deficits or fallacies in their knowledge. Therefore, every member of the house staff is encouraged to maximize opportunities to teach others. In this way, each patient's care can provide a rich learning experience. The ambulatory and inpatient services provide excellent resources for "studying nature" first and then turning to medical literature and knowledgeable experts. This is an excellent way to develop an understanding of the patient, the family, and the community in which the patient resides.

Learning

A multitude of opportunities are provided for your education in pediatrics. Residents will have many chances to teach others--including students, fellow house staff, and members of the faculty--what they have learned. Residents will attend rounds, seminars, lectures, problem solving conferences, and informal discussions with faculty, in addition to studying books, journals, and other learning resources. Residents are encouraged to take advantage of all of these, but remember that information gained through the study of specific patient problems is more likely to be useful and retainable than that gained from text and lecture alone.

U.T.M.B. Pediatric Residency Program Goals and Objectives by Competencies

Objectives

The following objectives reflect an understanding of the implications for future pediatric education and training of evolving societal needs, health care practice patterns and scientific technological developments.

     I. Patient Care 

     At the completion of their training,

1. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate compassion and empathy in caring for their patients.

2. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate the ability to perform a complete history and physical examination on pediatric patients of all ages.

3. Pediatric Residents are expected to understand the normal process of growth and development in children and adolescents.

4. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate the ability to skillfully perform technical diagnostic and therapeutic procedures warranted by their patients' pediatric conditions. 

5. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate the ability to recognize patients with immediate life-threatening conditions requiring critical care and to institute an appropriate initial course of therapeutic management.

6. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate the ability to manage both acute and chronic health problems of children and adolescents and to use consultants when appropriate. 

7. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate the ability to manage children and adolescents with emotional disturbances, learning disabilities, chronic illnesses and other problems of a developmental, psychological and social nature.

8. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate the ability to use systematic approaches for promoting, maintaining and improving the health and health-associated behaviors of individuals and populations through counseling, public education and community action.

9. Pediatric Residents are expected to educate and counsel families regarding the stages of normal development and to identify early those health problems and risk factors that may adversely affect such development.

   II. Medical Knowledge
   
   At the completion of their training,
   
   

10. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate an understanding of the scientific basis of pediatric medicine and the ability to apply that understanding in the care of their patients.

11. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate the ability to comprehend pediatric diseases and to incorporate wisely modern diagnostic and therapeutic modalities in the care of their patients.

12. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate knowledge of the most frequent clinical, laboratory, roentgenologic and pathologic manifestations of pediatric and adolescent diseases.

13. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate the ability to interpret the results of diagnostic procedures, to reason deductively and utilize sound medical judgment in solving their patient's clinical problem and to construct appropriate management strategies in the care of their patients.

14. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate an understanding of, and be sufficiently knowledgeable about, the efficacy of non-traditional modes of therapy available for both common and rare pediatric diseases.

15. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate knowledge about relieving pain and ameliorating the suffering of patients and their families.

16. Pediatric Residents are expected to understand the principles of health maintenance and the influence of the environment on health.

    
    III. Practice-Based Learning and Improvement
    
    At the completion of their training,
    
    

17. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate a preparedness to serve as members, as leaders and as consultants in health care teams caring for children and adolescents.

18. Pediatric Residents are expected to provide or arrange health maintenance services for children and adolescents.

19. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate the ability to utilize community resources to enhance the effectiveness of community services to children and their families.

20. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate knowledge on the management of pediatric and adolescent maladies within the context of evidence-based medicine.

21. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate knowledge about the non-biological risk factors that contribute to the development of pediatric and adolescent diseases and injury and how to utilize disease and injury prevention practices in reducing their incidence and prevalence.

22. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate the capacity to recognize and accept limitations in their knowledge and clinical skills and a commitment to engage in lifelong learning and self-improvement.

23. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate an ability to design and implement an individualized professional education (C.M.E.) plan.

    
    IV. Interpersonal and Communication Skills
    
    At the completion of their training,
    
    

24. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with their patients and their families.

25. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate the ability to avoid being judgmental when the patients', or their families', beliefs and values differ from their own.

26. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate respect for the roles of other health care professionals and the need to collaborate with others in the care of their patients.

27. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate the ability to collaborate with other members of the health care team with whom information must be exchanged in the care of their patients.

    
    V. Professionalism
    
    At the completion of their training,
    
    

28. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate a commitment to advocate at all times the interests of their patients.
    

29. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate integrity and honesty in all their personal and professional activities.
    

30. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate respect for their patients' privacy as well as respect for the dignity of patients as persons.

    VI. System-Based Practice
    
    At the completion of their training,
    
    

31. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate knowledge about the various present day approaches to the organization, financing and delivery of pediatric and adolescent health care.

32. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate the ability to manage their practices efficiently and to demonstrate an understanding of the conflicts of interest inherent in various financial and organizational arrangements for the practice of pediatric medicine.

33. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate a commitment to actively support traditional public health care practices to provide care for pediatric and adolescent patients unable to pay and to advocate for the improvement of access to health care for everyone.

34. Pediatric Residents are expected to demonstrate knowledge about the principles of outcome based medicine and how to make cost effective health care decisions about the utilization of limited medical resources