PHM Divisional Conferences
Pediatric Hospital Medicine Scholarship Series (Weekly): Conference series utilizing multiple formats, including works-in-progress style presentations, methods didactics, and lectures from invited guests, focused on scholarly career development topics.
Pediatric Hospital Medicine Journal Club (Monthly): Division faculty and fellows present recent literature relevant to the practice of hospital medicine.
Pediatric Hospital Medicine Case Conference (Monthly): Division faculty and fellows present challenging and interesting cases and lead discussion with reference to literature and evidence-based practices when available.
Fellow's Conferences
Pediatric Hospital Medicine Core Lecture Series (Twice/month): While much of the clinical knowledge gained during training will come through direct patient care, it is important to have in-depth discussions about nuances of disorders and issues that often cannot be discussed in a busy inpatient clinical setting. Therefore, the division will hold bi-monthly 1-hour lectures that will cover the core topics outlined in the medical knowledge milestones for PHM and will be covered on the pediatric hospital medicine boards.
Pediatric Hospital Medicine Leadership and Professional Development Series (Twice/month): Examples for these sessions include: How to compile an Educator's Portfolio; Methods for delivering verbal and written feedback; Teaching difficult learners and conflict resolution; Billing and Coding 101; The Alphabet Soup of Grant Funding. Additionally, fellows will participate in a book club with PHM leadership to discuss leadership in medicine.
Department of Pediatrics Core Curriculum for Fellows Conference: This conference for all departmental first-year fellows covers topics such as professionalism, clinical epidemiology, evidence-based medicine, biostatistics, research methodology, study design, ethical principles, manuscript preparation, and effective leadership. The lecture series for second-year fellows consists of three lectures held in the spring addressing topics of adult learning theory and leadership skills, and the lecture series for third-year fellows consists of three lectures held in the fall addressing team management, medical economics, and career planning.
Pediatric Academic Community Meetings: The academic communities bring together residents and fellows from across the department with similar interests and seeks to develop leaders in pediatrics through collaborative clinical experiences, mentorship, and scholarship in one of five core areas. The PHM fellow will be required to participate in one of the academic communities depending on career goals.
Departmental Conferences
Department of Pediatrics Research Conference is held on Mondays nine months per year. Original research and works-in-progress are formally presented by invited faculty from Vanderbilt and other institutions.
Pediatric Grand Rounds is held on Tuesday mornings nine months per year. Faculty from Vanderbilt and other institutions are invited to present on a topic of their choosing related to child health.
Department of Pediatrics Education Faculty Development Conference Series is held during the three months in which there is no research conference or Grand Rounds. Leaders in education within the department will present a variety of educational topics to help advance clinical and didactic teaching skills.
Pediatric Chief’s Case Conference is held on Thursday mornings nine months a year. Faculty, fellows, and residents work together through challenging cases presented by the pediatric chief residents. Each case is followed by didactic or teaching points highlighted by an expert in the field.
Departmental MMI: This hospital-wide conference provides a setting to discuss important cases from Monroe Carell and focus on ways in which we can improve systems that affect patient care.
Department of Pediatrics Annual Research Retreat is an all-day event held each Spring to highlight the research of the department’s trainees and junior investigators. Activities include a keynote address by a visiting senior investigator as well as oral and poster presentation sessions. All second- and third-year fellows will be expected to submit their scholarly work for this activity.
Fellows are required to attend the American Academy of Pediatrics PHM Fellows Conference (August) and 1-2 additional national conferences each year of fellowship. Fellows are expected to submit an abstract detailing their scholarly work to at least one conference annually and participate fully in career development activities offered at each conference they attend. Potential conferences include the Pediatric Academic Societies Conference (May), the Pediatric Hospital Medicine National Conference (July), and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement National Forum (December).
Other Resources
Pediatric Infectious Disease Case Conference (Encouraged but not required) is run by pediatric infectious disease fellows and attendings, discussing cases and important ID topics that come up in presented cases.
Research Works in Progress sessions are held weekly across campus in a wide array of focus areas, and fellows are expected to attend and present their work regularly in sessions relevant to their area of inquiry.
Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR) Studios are funded by the Vanderbilt CTSA and are available year-round as needed to investigators engaged in clinical or translational research at the medical center. Studios are available for study design and hypothesis generation, study implementation, statistical planning, grant writing support, and manuscript preparation for high-impact journals. Studios are individualized and typically consist of the investigator, one or more of the investigator’s mentors, plus 3-5 senior investigators with thematic or methodological expertise in the area of need but not directly involved with the project.
Department of Biostatistics Research Skills Clinics are held every day of the week at noon nine months per year and allow investigators to discuss biostatistical methods related to their research and receive advice and informal consultation from departmental faculty.