Faculty Bibliography

BACKGROUND: The time during training that pediatric residents decide about career path is varied. Approximately half of residents plan to pursue fellowship; a percentage that is fairly stable across the 3 years of training. Individual priorities such as worklife balance, educational debt and career structure (i.e. time spent on direct patient care, research, education or administration) impact the decision. Exposure to possible career options early in training may help decision making.
OBJECTIVE(S): To determine interns perception of the usefulness of a 2-week individualized career exploration (CE) rotation.
METHOD(S): In July 2016 we implemented a 2-week CE rotation for interns that was individually designed to expose them to an area within pediatric medicine of their choosing that they are considering for their career. The experience was specifically tailored to emphasize aspects they may not typically be exposed to during an elective, such as faculty scholarship, career path and lifestyle. Interns were surveyed before and after their CE rotation. We used descriptive statistics to analyze intern's perceptions of preparedness to decide about post-residency career path.
RESULT(S): 24 interns completed pre and post CE rotation surveys. On the pre-rotation survey, when asked how prepared they felt to decide about their post-residency career 13% were neutral and 54% felt un-prepared. We found no association between timing of CE rotation during intern year and level of confidence to make a career decision. 79% felt positive that a CE rotation would help with making a career decision. On the post-rotation survey 83% of interns felt better prepared to make a career decision and 100% of interns felt the CE rotation was worthwhile. When asked which of the assigned rotation activities where most useful 42% of interns chose faculty shadowing, 32% chose conducting a faculty mini-interview, and 25% chose the self-reflection exercise.
CONCLUSION(S): A CE rotation during intern year can increase perceptions of preparedness to decide about post-residency career path

Thrombotic disease is rare in neonates. Many of the cases reported in literature are attributed to the placement of central catheters. We report on a case of aortic thrombosis in a newborn infant with significant respiratory distress due to meconium aspiration, necessitating intubation and placement of central catheters. Due to the location and size of the thrombus in our case, various subspecialties were involved, which ultimately guided therapy to anti-coagulate the patient