Curriculum for Academic General Pediatrics Fellowship

Academic General Pediatrics Fellows participate in a variety of teaching and educational experiences designed to develop their skills as clinician-educators while fostering scholarly growth and leadership in medical education. Fellows provide ambulatory teaching for learners during a minimum of two half-day clinics each week and serve as small-group facilitators for the Community Cares curriculum for pediatric residents. Additional teaching opportunities include participating in the Primary Care Lecture Series for the pediatric residents and presenting general pediatric topics to the Methodist Family Medicine residency program.

Fellows also engage in a comprehensive educational curriculum through regular fellowship and departmental conferences. Every other month, fellows participate in Academic Half Days with Child Abuse Pediatrics fellows, complemented by Department of Pediatrics Fellows’ College Academic Half Days. Scholarly development is supported through monthly Academic General Pediatrics research meetings, quarterly division meetings, and quarterly Fellowship Advisory Committee meetings. 

The fellowship also encourages active participation in institutional educational events, including the Department of Pediatrics Educators Symposium, the annual Department of Pediatrics Education Retreat, and the Department of Pediatrics Pediatric Research Symposium. Fellows are supported in attending national meetings such as the Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting and, for those pursuing the Medical Education Track, the Association of Pediatric Program Directors (APPD) Annual Meeting. 

Texas Children's Hospital is a part of a network of health care services known as Texas Children's Integrated Delivery System. The system's mission is "to support excellence in patient care, education, and research with a commitment to quality service and cost-effective care to enhance the health and well-being of children locally, nationally and internationally."

The structure of the Integrated Delivery System enables Texas Children's to reach into Houston's neighborhoods to offer a full range of pediatric healthcare services. The mission of Texas Children's is to provide quality patient care, education and research, and to support that mission with a commitment to excellent service and cost-effective care in response to the needs of the community.

The hospital provides inpatient and outpatient care in primary care pediatrics as well as more than 40 pediatric subspecialties, and operates one of the largest pediatric emergency centers in the nation. Texas Children's is one of the two training sites for Baylor pediatric residents.

Texas Children’s Primary Care Practice (TCH PCP) is a community-based pediatric residents' continuity clinic serving primarily low-income, minority population with federally subsidized health insurance. The clinic provides comprehensive routine and preventive health care for infants, children, adolescents, and young adults through 21 years of age.

It serves as the primary continuity clinic site for Baylor pediatric residents. AGP faculty and fellows supervise pediatric residents and medical students that rotate through this community-based site.

Texas Children's Hospital launched the Mobile Clinic Outreach Program in 2000 with a goal to provide much needed healthcare services to elementary school children in some of Houston's most medically underserved areas. The Mobile Clinic Outreach Program services a predominately Hispanic, low-income, uninsured population. The two mobile units of the Outreach Program currently serve 23 elementary schools throughout the Houston Independent School District and nearby school districts (primarily located in the medically underserved areas of Gulfton and Hobby Airport). Each mobile unit is a customized motor coach that transports a fully equipped medical clinic, and is staffed by pediatricians, a pediatric nurse practitioner, licensed vocational nurse, social worker, and volunteers.

This team provides a full range of primary healthcare services including well-child examinations, minor illness evaluation and treatment, vaccinations, nutrition guidance, health and safety education, social service referrals, and preventive education. In addition to providing medical services, the program helps eligible families enroll in insurance plans and find permanent medical homes. Three AGP pediatricians and one pediatric nurse practitioner serve in the mobile clinics. Fellows (one month rotation), pediatric residents (one half day per week), and medical students (one half day per week) gain invaluable knowledge in the biopsychosocial determinants of health during this Mobile Clinic Outreach experience.

Pediatric and Adolescent Health Center is part of the Harris Health System and provides care for indigent or low-income families who depend primarily or totally on Harris Health for their healthcare. Rotation through Pediatric and Adolescent Health Center provides residents and medical students with exposure to many common pediatric problems that, in an indigent patient population with poor access to health care, often are seen in very late and very severe form. Specialty care offered at the clinic includes pulmonary, developmental/high risk, special needs, rheumatology, gastrointestinal, psychiatry, neurology, behavioral health therapy and adolescent weight management with psychology.

It serves as a continuity clinic site for Baylor pediatric residents. AGP faculty and fellows supervise pediatric residents and medical students that rotate through this community-based site.