Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellowship

Welcome, and thank you for your interest in the pediatric hospital medicine fellowship at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital! Located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, one of the fastest growing cities in the midwest, Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital is a state-of-the-art, freestanding children’s hospital that is nationally ranked in four pediatric subspecialties by U.S. News and World Report. Our fellowship trains pediatricians to become academic pediatric hospitalists who provide safe, superior patient care; are well versed in patient safety, quality and process improvement; perform high-level quality scholarly work in clinical research and/or safety and quality; and attain leadership roles in their careers. Through our Michigan State University affiliation, we offer academic, educational and research experiences traditionally provided by university-based programs and the ability to further develop mastery in undergraduate and graduate medical education.

We hope the following information is useful to you. Thanks again for considering us for your fellowship training and please feel free to contact us with questions! If you are an internal medicine/pediatrics resident, we can offer you time as an adult hospitalist during your fellowship elective time. Several of our hospitalists are internal medicine/pediatrics trained and continue to work on the adult side, too. Please don’t hesitate to inquire more about this! 

Learn more from our PGY-5 fellows and how the pediatric hospital medicine fellowship is preparing them for their future.

With the exception of the community hospital medicine rotation, all fellowship training occurs at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, a 240 bed freestanding children’s hospital with more than 9,100 inpatient, 2,200 pediatric intensive care, and 1,400 neonatal intensive care admissions, and more than 56,000 pediatric emergency department visits annually. Spectrum Health is also home to 26 ACGME-accredited residency and fellowship programs in partnership with Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.

The fellowship curriculum in year one consists of:
Four blocks hospital medicine at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital 
One block community hospital medicine
One block pediatric intensive care unit
One block sedation
Two blocks electives
Four blocks scholarly activity/research
Four weeks vacation/conference

The curriculum in year two consists of:
Three blocks hospital medicine at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital
One block neonatal medicine
Five blocks electives
Four blocks scholarly activity/research

Electives offered include infectious disease with antibiotic stewardship, pediatric emergency medicine, palliative care/pain management, child abuse and neglect, nephrology, pulmonology, toxicology, pediatric surgery, genetics and metabolism, global health, hospital administration and leadership, pediatric physical medicine & rehabilitation, the business of medicine, and the option to design your own elective.

Didactics
We are passionate about your learning, and have in place a well rounded approach to education, both clinically and via the following didactic series:

Scholarly Activity
Fellows must complete and present at least one major scholarly project in the area of patient quality/safety, but the reality is that our fellows are involved in multiple scholarly projects during their two years here, including clinical research and additional quality work. Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital has extraordinary QI infrastructure in the form of the i-Hub (Improvement Hub), where fellows receive full support to design and carry out any number of projects of interest to them. In addition, fellows have great research oversight and mentorship by one of our core faculty members, a grant-funded member of the hospitalist division. Many members of the Spectrum Health hospitalist group are involved in scholarly activity, so there is no shortage of ideas or mentors for you.

Examples of current fellow scholarly projects include:

Fellow Wellness
Part of wellness involves being empowered to have a voice in the running of the fellowship, and that is hugely important in our program. Your opinion will be sought out on all aspects of your fellowship experience, with the commitment of continuous quality improvement by all of us at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital! In addition, there is an enormous focus on resident/fellow wellness at Spectrum Health, and fellows can be involved via participation in the many events throughout the year, or as leaders, including:

Fellows also have access to Encompass, an employee assistance program which offers a variety of assessment and counseling services, provided free of charge.

Mentorship
You will love the overall culture at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, which is warm and welcoming, and we also work to pair you with mentors who act as advisors and guides during your fellowship and beyond. In addition, our hospitalist group is committed to celebrating life outside the hospital, too, and we have regular get-togethers that you’ll love being a part of.

Timeline for application process
July 1, 2019: Application season opens
September 25, 2019: Match opens
October 30, 2019: Rank order entry list opens
November 22, 2019: Application submission deadline
December 4, 2019: Rank order list certification deadline
December 18, 2019: Match day

Spectrum Health provides a comprehensive and very competitive benefits package for our residents, staff and their families. In addition, our program provides educational monies to support your ongoing education. Download our salary and benefits document to learn more.