Continuity Clinic
Pediatric Group Practice
Continuity clinic provides residents with the opportunity to be the primary pediatrician
for a select panel of patients. In providing longitudinal care to these children,
residents learn the concepts of health supervision (normal child development and health
promotion) as well as long term management of children with chronic and sub-acute
illnesses. Residents may recruit patients into their clinics from the newborn nursery,
the pediatric emergency department, the neonatal intensive care units and inpatient
services. Doctor-patient relationships develop quickly and families learn to identify
residents as their primary care provider along with their faculty mentor.
Reside
nts spend the same one-half day per week in continuity clinic throughout residency
and there are two primary practice sites where they may be placed, Kid's First TigerCARE Clinic or Depaul Community Health Centers - Carrollton Center. One of our clinics has a large Spanish speaking population so there are opportunities
for our bilingual residents to practice pediatrics and Spanish! All sites provide
a small faculty to resident ratio that promotes more one on one teaching opportunities.
In addition to patient-focused teaching there is also a curriculum designed specifically
for issues related to the well baby/well child exam and common pediatric problems.
Each clinic promotes childhood literacy by participating in a national initiative
called Reach Out and Read. Residents are trained to deliver literacy information
and age appropriate new books to patients during their well child exams. This is
a very popular program for patients, parents and pediatricians!