The goal of the Primary Care and Community Health Track of the Pediatric Residency Program is to train pediatricians who receive focused education in primary care, community health, advocacy, and the medical-home concept. This program has been funded by a grant from HRSA and is designed to provide more longitudinal education in primary care and multiple opportunities for involvement in community outreach.
The program is structured into 3 month blocks. 2 blocks each year are dedicated to ACGME required inpatient experiences and are alternated with 3 month primary care blocks. These blocks are structured to have longitudinal experiences in general and pediatric primary care.
The primary care blocks are structured as follows:
- Residents will rotate for 3 months at a time on the primary care track. There will always be a PGY-1, PGY-2 and PGY-3 in the primary care block.
- Residents will have a full day of continuity clinic at their regular continuity site during the block. The regular continuity site for each resident will remain constant for the 3 years of the program, as it does for the categorical residents.
- The goal is for experiences to be longitudinal during the block. In order to accomplish some continuity with primary care, the traditional subspecialty experiences will be woven into the blocks over a longer period of time.
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Primary Care and Community Health Track - Rotation Schedule |
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PGY-1 |
PGY-2 |
PGY-3 |
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Inpatient (12 weeks) |
PICU (8 weeks) |
Inpatient (4 weeks) |
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NICU (4 weeks) |
NICU (4 weeks) |
Night float (2 weeks) |
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ED (4 weeks) |
Inpatient (4 weeks) |
ED (4 weeks) |
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Term Nursery (4 weeks) |
Adolescent medicine |
Term Nursery (4 weeks) |
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Primary Care block (24 weeks) |
Primary Care block (20 weeks) |
Primary Care block (26 weeks) |
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Elective (4 weeks) |
Elective (4 weeks) |
PGY-1 Primary Care
- Residents complete rotations in inpatient, NICU, ED and term nursery.
- The focus of the Primary Care block will be exposure to general pediatrics community experiences. Many of the experiences currently in the community pediatric rotation will be expanded over the course of each block, providing more exposure to the community.
- The subspecialty focus of the PGY-1 block will be allergy and asthma, as well as lactation and feeding.
PGY-2 Primary Care
- The PGY-2 residents will spend one half day per week at a private practice in order to learn about different forms of primary care delivery in the South Jersey area. This time will be in addition to their full day continuity clinic.
- The subspecialty focus will be hematology, neurology, and otolaryngology. These subspecialty experiences will be 2-3 days per week for the duration of the block.
PGY-3 Primary Care
- PGY-3 residents will spend one day per week during the block at a satellite office. This experience will allow them to focus some attention on a different patient population. This will be in addition to their full day of continuity clinic.
- The subspecialty focuses for the PGY-3 blocks will be gastroenterology and neurology.
- Time will also be available for elective experiences.
How to Apply to the Primary Care Track at Cooper
Qualifications for the Primary Care Track consist of a commitment to primary care and the under-served population. Applicants are encouraged to apply. During the process of ranking, the primary care track should be selected separately from the categorical program. Applicants may apply to both the categorical program and the primary care track through ERAS.