FAQs

There are 14 residents per class.

Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children is a tertiary care children’s hospital with 158 beds, and the region's only Level 1 Trauma Center.  The hospital includes a 33-bed pediatric emergency room, 17-bed PICU, and a 22-bed step-down ICU unit.  Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies is located right across the street, and houses the Newborn Nursery and a 142-bed Level 4 NICU.

• Adolescent Gynecology
• Adolescent Medicine
• Cardiac Surgery
• Cardiology
• Craniomaxillofacial Surgery
• Critical Care
• Developmental Pediatrics
• Emergency Medicine
• Endocrinology and Diabetes Center
• Gastroenterology (Center for Digestive Health and Nutrition)
• General Pediatrics
• Genetics
• Hematology / Oncology (Center for Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders)
• Infectious Disease
• Nephrology (Hewell Kids Kidney Center)
• Neurology
• Neurosurgery
• Orthopedic Surgery
• Otolaryngology
• Pediatric Surgery
• Pulmonary
• Rheumatology
• Sports Medicine

We use Epic in both the inpatient and outpatient settings.  

We take the General Pediatrics Certifying Exam (the Boards) very seriously.  Our formal curriculum consists of didactics that are given to ABP Board Content Specifications, weekly PREP questions that are completed by residents and reviewed by faculty on a regular basis, and 4 weeks at the end of the year that are dedicated to Board Review.  See our Curriculum page for more details.

Our 3-year board pass rate for first-time test takers is 88%.

Our residency and fellowship programs are committed to promoting diversity and inclusion amongst our faculty and trainees.  Our Diversity Council leads our initiatives.  Sponsored activities include pre-season recruitment events, Cultural Food Day, mentoring, and community events.  See our Diversity and Inclusion page for further details.  

On average, 50% of our graduates enter general pediatrics, 20% enter academic pediatrics, and 30% enter subspecialty fellowships.

We have protected time for didactics daily. Typically, these include a combination of morning reports (resident run) and noon conference (more structured lecture by attendings). Within each block or month, we also incorporate lecture series including Pediatric Critical Care, Evidence-Based Medicine, Pathology, and Radiology. All of our lectures follow ABP Content Specifications for the Boards. We also have Grand Rounds and Medical PIPS (M&M) conferences throughout the year.

We currently have 5 pediatric fellowships at Arnold Palmer Hospital: Pediatric Critical Care, Neonatal / Perinatal Medicine, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Pediatric Gastroenterology, and Sports Medicine. Residents interact with these fellows daily.

There are opportunities to conduct formal research with mentors across all specialties.  Residents have presented at national conferences including the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference, Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance, Society of Critical Care Medicine Annual Congress, North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition Annual Meeting, American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Conference, American Thoracic Society Conference, Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (FCAAP) Conference, Florida Perinatal Quality Collaborative, and the Orlando Health Quality Retreat, among others.  In addition, every resident is required to participate in the longitudinal Quality Curriculum and complete a Quality Improvement (QI) project throughout their training.  Many residents have presented at national conferences and some have submitted manuscripts during their training.  See our Program – Scholarly Activity page for further information. 

On an inpatient rotation, your team will typically consist of an attending, a senior resident, 2 interns, and 2-3 medical students. You will get the opportunity to interact with other physicians and other specialist attendings one on one. As an intern, you will typically have an average patient load of 7-10 patients.

For inpatient, you will normally come in at 6am and sign-out at 5pm for the week. Outpatient is dependent on your rotation but normally is from 8am to 5pm.

You will have continuity clinic for one half-day per week on most rotations. Our continuity clinic building is a 5-min walk from the hospital.

Nights are covered by a designated night team. PICU, PSCU (our step-down unit), and Floor each have their own night teams. These teams work Sunday - Thursday, 5pm to 6am. Remaining weekend shifts are covered by residents on electives.

Residents each receive 4 weeks of vacation, one of which occurs over the Christmas / New Years holiday block.

All residents are provided parking free of charge, located in the parking garage immediately next to Arnold Palmer Hospital.

Every resident is provided a food stipend that is connected to their ID badge. It works at all the cafeterias on campus, as well as the on-campus Subway, Freshen Yogurt, and Starbucks.