Residents and interns have no assigned duties every eighth day during Vanderbilt ward rotations. Night call on clinic and elective rotations is generally divided between phone call and Emergency Department shifts, which occur approximately every 6th to 7th night. Third-year medical students are also an integral part of the service. The PL-1 residents assigned to the wards admit an average of twelve to fourteen patients a week. Call is every fourth night.
All faculty members rotate as ward attending physicians for one month periods.
Rounds with Vanderbilt faculty and private attending physicians occur three to six times per week. These teaching sessions provide an excellent opportunity for the resident to interact with a Vanderbilt subspecialist or general pediatrician and to gain perspective on how various pediatric illnesses might be managed in the private practice setting. The ward rotations provide a cross section of pediatric experience, with approximately half of all admissions to general pediatrics and half to subspecialty services. Thirty percent of patients are admitted by practicing community pediatricians. The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit is a 20-bed unit with 10 intensive care and 10 intermediate intensive care beds.