Pediatric Complex Care Experience

Course Description: This elective offers an opportunity to learn how to approach a medically complex pediatric patient: obtain a detailed and pertinent history, become more comfortable with atypical physical exams, review and critically assess the medical record, and evaluate both acute and chronic medical care issues.  Common conditions encountered include a large variety of genetic disorders, progressive neurologic and respiratory disorders, chronic encephalopathy, and multi-system medical conditions. Our goal is that over time the student’s role will evolve from shadowing to seeing patients independently and discussing them with providers and other team members.  Depending on the student’s interests and on staffing availability, elements of the course could include:  inpatient complex care team, inpatient complex care consults; attending multidisciplinary clinics for children with leukodystrophies; outpatient primary care for children with medical complexity; explore subacute care of CMC including PT, OT, ST, and RT assessments; pediatric palliative care.

Course Learning Objectives:

By the end of this course, the student should be able to:

1. Manage a medically complex pediatric patient under the supervision of hospitalist consultants.
2. Demonstrate awareness of complex medical illnesses in the care of patients by describing the epidemiology, symptomatology, and treatment, performing literature searches and incorporating current best practices and research on the disease and future directions.
3. Practice advocating for the patient and their family in a family-focused manner, optimizing care while recognizing cultural, economic and social factors that may influence a family’s medical decision making.