Rotations & Fellowships at Children’s

Here’s how Children’s defines levels of medical education training:

• Fellows are physicians who are fully trained in a specialty but are participating in a fellowship training program to gain more experience in a particular subspecialty.
• Residents are physicians currently in training in an affiliated residency program and doing training rotations at Children’s. The first year of residency is sometimes referred to as the internship year.
• Medical students are currently enrolled in an accredited medical school and participating in a clerkship or elective rotation at Children’s. Physician assistant students are a student currently enrolled in an accredited physician assistant training program and participating in a clerkship or elective rotation at Children’s.

Clinical rotations at Children’s

Clinical rotations are very limited on both campuses due to the contractual agreements currently in place with the University of Minnesota and other training programs.

Additional opportunities for clinical rotations are offered, but are at the discretion of the graduate medical education (GME) department and may be affected by time of year, expected housestaff assignments and individual educational/clinical historic performance. See the process below for securing this type of rotation — please be aware that you must make the arrangements on your own with the professional staff member who will act as your preceptor. Medical education staff cannot solicit these opportunities on your behalf.

Obtaining a clinical rotation

If you are interested in obtaining a clinical rotation on the St. Paul or Minneapolis campus, you must identify and secure a Children’s professional staff member who is available to act as your preceptor. This person must contact the GME office to verify their commitment to precept and discuss the details of your rotation.

There are four steps to completing the approval process:

1. If a rotation is available, AND you have an agreement in place with a staff member to act as your preceptor then the GME coordinator will outline the procedure to implement a contract with your educational program. A Program Letter of Agreement (PLA) /contract is mandatory for ALL clinical rotations. Your clinical coordinator may be able to tell you if there is a current agreement on file.
2. If your educational institution does not already have an agreement with Children’s, there are several components that need to be completed prior to an acceptance. Understand that you must currently be enrolled in an accredited training program and have passed the necessary examinations/competencies for your level of training. Your clinical coordinator will need to contact the GME office at Children’s to get an affiliation agreement executed. It is best to plan for your desired rotation 6-12 months in advance in order to obtain approval and compile the necessary information.
3. You will receive final approval from the graduate medical education department at Children’s.
4. You will need to finalize dates of rotation and details with your preceptor and copy the information to the GME coordinator at Children’s.

For a clinical rotation on either campus, Children’s must have these documents on file:

• A Program Letter of Agreement (PLA) or contract agreement from your program.
• Confirmation of a preceptor from the Children’s professional staff member who will accept responsibility for your time and training here.
• Required documentation for your level of training through the medical education online enrollment system.

After all of the requirements have been satisfied and all documentation is received, please contact GME coordinator at the campus on which you will be working to discuss details of the rotation.

• Children’s – St. Paul: 651-220-6130
• Children’s – Minneapolis: 612-813-6206

Please note that the preceptor is your contact for expectations, orientation and schedule for the rotation. He or she is also responsible for completing and submitting any evaluations as applicable.

Foreign medical graduates

It is with regret that the medical education department of Children’s Minnesota can no longer accept applications from foreign medical graduates for externships to rotate on the inpatient/wards rotation on either the St. Paul or the Minneapolis hospital campuses.

Fellowship Programs

Children’s hosts several pediatric medicine fellowships including:

• Pediatric Emergency Medicine
• ENT and Facial Plastic Surgery
• Pain Medicine and Palliative Care

Mentorships

Mentorships are short educational experiences, generally sixty days or less, at the hospital sites for individuals fully trained in the disciplines that comprise the professional staff or Individuals with Privileges.

Mentorship definitions

• A “mentee” is a fully trained professional who engages in an educational and/or training program to update, refresh or enhance his or her cognitive or procedural clinical skills. A mentee need not be a member of the professional staff, nor hold clinical privileges, but must be licensed.
• A “mentor” is a fully trained professional who engages in the education and/or training of another professional in a skill in which the mentor is currently competent. A mentor must have been granted the clinical privileges required to provide education and/or training involving the care, treatment and/or services of patients at or for the hospital.

For more information on mentorships, contact [email protected].