Elmhurst Hospital Center

Pediatric Primary Care Program B

Ambulatory Primary Care Service

The Pediatric Ambulatory Service of Elmhurst Hospital Center, housed in the newly-opened Community Health Center, provides approximately 100,000 pediatric visits per year. The Pediatrics Department is the largest primary care provider at Elmhurst Hospital Center offering comprehensive medical services to 15,000 patients in a number of program settings. Services include the following components:

• Pediatric Primary Care Service for ongoing care
• Adolescent Health Service
• Pediatric Emergency Room/Acute Care
• Developmental Evaluation Clinic
• Child Life Program
• Specialty Clinics for the care of children with various chronic diseases

Residents attend continuity clinics once or twice per week throughout the year, with additional continuity sessions added during the Pediatric Acute Care/Emergency Room rotation, providing them an opportunity to learn primary care in depth. Residents see those children whom they have seen before in the inpatient setting and in the nursery. The role of the pediatric resident is to be the primary pediatrician for a panel of these children in the same way as physicians in private practice and to manage their patients care, including coordination of referrals, hospital admission and post-discharge follow-up. Residents provide this care in the context of an interdisciplinary continuity team, consisting of a PL-1, PL-2, and PL-3 resident and mid-level providers such as nurse practitioners, social workers, and health educators, under the supervision of an attending physician preceptor. Patients have access to their team members including the resident and attending physician, who are available via telephone 24 hours daily, seven days per week.

Team member and preceptor assignments remain fixed throughout the three-year training program. This assures continuity of clinical care for patients and residents alike, and brings an additional element of consistency to the educational component.