Training

All pediatric fellows participate in both in-person and on-line courses in Evidence-Based Medicine and Clinical Research Methods during their dedicated research months. In addition, fellows will be expected to attend and participate in regular journal club meetings, during which critical review of current literature pertinent to pediatric nephrology will be conducted. The Pediatric residents participate in an Evidenced-Based Medicine Curriculum throughout their three years of training; the fellows will be encouraged to attend these weekly educational conferences and review of current literature. MUSC and GME also create regular conferences pertinent to fellows and their gaining knowledge in these endeavors.

Fellows will be expected to design and implement a research project during their three-year fellowship which will satisfy the “Meaningful Accomplishment in Research” requirement of the American Board of Pediatrics in order to sit for the Sub-board examination in Pediatric Nephrology.

Fellows entering the training program are not assigned to a research program. From discussions with faculty, educators and clinicians, the fellow is expected to identify a research question and a mentor to assist the fellow in addressing that question. We firmly believe that the project must be of the interest of the fellow, or it is not worth pursuing. This mentor must be responsible for providing the ongoing formative feedback that is essential to the trainee’s attainment of competence in clinical care, teaching and scholarship. The first block of the first year is dedicated to finding this project.

Each fellow will have a scholarship oversight committee (SOC) with appropriate expertise in scholarly research endeavors; the SOC will be appointed during the first year of fellowship. The mentor and SOC will ensure global scholarly success as mentioned above. We expect that fellows will submit their completed research projects to a national meeting for presentation, and if accepted will be supported by our division to present at the conference.

Fellows will prepare and present instructional lectures to students, residents, nurses, and other medical personnel (e.g., nurses and medical assistants) on topics related to pediatric nephrology. 

Pediatric fellows as a whole participate in a Teach the Teacher course which focuses on improving the skills of feedback and mentorship to name a few. In addition, MUSC’s Center for Academic Excellence collaborates with all Pediatric Fellowship Directors to provide resources for Peds fellows in specific courses such as developing a CV, how to conduct small group discussions, professionalism, scholarly publication preparation etc. Fellows have the opportunity to teach and mentor residents as well as medical students in several College of Medicine teaching courses. Fellows can also elect to participate in a certificate program awarded by GME titled Certificate as a Clinician-Educator which expands formal instruction in teaching and provides an opportunity to be mentored in an educational research project.

Fellows will participate in inter- and intra-departmental meetings as they relate to the Pediatric Nephrology and are of interest to the individual fellow. As part of this process, policies and procedures will be developed and reviewed. We encourage the fellow to choose multi-disciplinary committees or project development teams that support their interest within our field.

Fellows have many opportunities and resources to perform and evaluate the success of Quality Improvement projects which impact operations in both the Pediatric Nephrology and the Children’s Hospital as a whole. As an employee of MUSC, one is given free access to the Institute of Healthcare Improvement’s course offerings including Quality Improvement, Patient Safety and Leadership.

Every week there is time set aside for fellowship educational conferences. The format will vary week to week but will include: didactic lecture presentations from faculty within the department and faculty from other disciplines on topics germane to pediatric nephrology; review of sections of pediatric nephrology board specifications; case conference presentations such as morbidity and mortality; research conferences; and critical review of contemporary articles taken from a variety of academic journals. Fellows take an active role in Fellows Conference with presentations on topics relevant to M&M case review and pathology. This will allow some administrative and teaching experience. A current fellows conference schedule is included for your review.

Weekly Conferences

• Department of Pediatrics Grand Rounds – Fridays, 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
• Weekly Pediatric Fellow Core Curriculum Lectures (ABP content outline for Pediatric Nephrology and journal club) – Fridays, 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
• Inpatient case discussions/sign out – Fridays, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
• Adult/Pediatric Nephrology Grand Rounds/Core Curriculum Lectures – Daily, 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.

Monthly Conferences

• Pediatric Transplant Conferences – Selection Committee Meetings (Second Thursday, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.)
• Monthly Pathology Conferences (Fourth Wednesday, 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.)
• Monthly Pediatric Nephrology/Radiology/Urology Conference (Fourth Wednesday, 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.)
• Fellows’ Core Curriculum Conference – First Friday, 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.

Quarterly Conferences

• Divisional Faculty/Fellow Research Review
• Quarterly M&M
• ESRD Conference/QAPI – Every three months on the Second Wednesday, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
• Transplant QAPI – Every three months on the Fourth Wednesday, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.