Immunology

The immunology elective will help you to:

• Understand patients with primary and secondary immune deficiencies and rheumatologic problems
• Learn the basic concepts of the normal immune response and the mechanisms of autoimmunity
• Apply that knowledge to the care of children with immunodeficiency and autoimmune diseases

Infectious Diseases

During the infectious diseases elective, you will:

• Become conversant with the evidence which forms the basis for current practice of diagnosis and management of infectious disease in children
• Become familiar with procedures and interpretations in the microbiology laboratory
• Utilize this knowledge in the management of inpatients and outpatients with infectious diseases

Medical Toxicology

Featuring a rigorous didactic component, the medical toxicology elective will give you the opportunity to:

• Evaluate patients with toxicology issues, including intentional and accidental overdoses, snake bites, unusual animal bites, industrial exposures, and potential chronic environmental exposures
• See patients with medical students, residents from other services, and with toxicology fellows and toxicology faculty who have faculty appointments in both Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics
• Review all Blue Ridge Poison Center calls with the attending physician

Nephrology

The pediatric renal elective provides an opportunity for you to become familiar with the evaluation and management of a variety of clinical nephrologic problems as they may be encountered by pediatricians. It is expected that you will be able to:

• Study, and learn to evaluate and manage basic fluid and electrolyte disorders, UTIs and vesicoureteral reflux, hypertension, congenital abnormalities in the newborn, acute renal failure, glomerular and tubular diseases, hematuria and proteinuria
• Be exposed to the intricacies of acute and chronic dialysis and transplantation as they relate to the practice of general pediatrics

Neurology

During this elective, you will achieve a better understanding of the general methodological approach of the child neurologist and a keen sense of when a child neurologist should be consulted. Specifically, you will:

• Evaluate, classify and treat patients with childhood headache diatheses, cyclic vomiting, pseudotumor cerebri, status epilepticus, neonatal hypoxic-ischemia, cerebral palsy, Guillain-Barre syndrome, encephalomyelitis, cerebellar ataxias, epilepsy, common and complex childhood seizure, coma and brain death
• Become exposed to the general principles of the evaluation of ADHD, academic underachievement, metabolic, genetic and degenerative disorders, macrocephaly, microcephaly and hydrocephaly

Ophthalmology

As you participate in outpatient clinics and perhaps attend operative procedures, you will become familiar with the diagnosis and management of common ophthalmologic problems specific to pediatrics.

Orthopaedics

During this introduction to the evaluation, diagnosis, and initial treatment for the full spectrum of pediatric musculoskeletal conditions, you will learn about

• Cerebral palsy, myelomeningocele, and muscular dystrophy
• Fractures, including splinting, bracing and casting techniques
• Scoliosis and general orthopedic pathology (club feet, DDH, and intoeing)

Pulmonology

During this elective you will

• Learn to evaluate and manage infants and children with a variety of acute and chronic lung disease including asthma, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, pulmonary infections, cystic fibrosis, airway anomalies, congenital lung malformations, obstructive sleep apnea, restrictive lung diseases
• Understand the functions and use of a mechanical ventilator
• Become familiar with procedures relevant to the pulmonary subspecialty such as lung function testing and bronchoscopy
• Attend outpatient clinics at the University as well as at several satellite clinics in Roanoke, Lynchburg, Harrisonburg, Wytheville, and Winchester

Research

To gain a greater understanding of the scientific method and acquire new knowledge through a mentored research experience, you may receive elective credit for up to eight weeks of research time. This may be augmented with an additional one-month rotation in a subspecialty rotation related to your area of research. It is anticipated that most research projects will take place over the course of several months to two years, with protected elective time allocated for periods of intensive work such as background literature reviews, data collection, or data analysis. More detailed information can be found at Pediatric Resident Research Elective

Sedation

The sedation service is an elective rotation offered by the critical care and pediatric anesthesia faculty. This faculty provides sedation (including conscious sedation) for a variety of procedures throughout the University of Virginia Health System, including pediatric inpatient and outpatient clinics, the radiology suites, the burn unit and all other clinics caring for children requiring sedation. In this elective you will gain more advanced patient care and medical knowledge with agents used for:

• Conscious sedation
• Airway management
• Intravenous line placement