Pediatrics Residency

Pediatrics Residency

The Pediatric Residency Training Program at Loma Linda University prepares you to be a competent, confident and compassionate pediatrician. You will serve a diverse patient population in modern facilities, developing essential skills through varied experiences.

You’ll focus on caring for people beyond their physical needs, nurturing patients and families socially and spiritually.

Why Choose Us

• Our approximately 200 full-time faculty members not only encourage development of clinical skills and knowledge, but also provide necessary mentoring and guidance for your future endeavors.
• Our patients come from underserved communities with limited resources — you learn by providing care to those who need it most. 
• Our Primary Care Track was developed with the goal of training highly competent residents passionate about this field. Applicants should be committed to pediatric primary care, health management and making an impact on our most vulnerable patients: the children in our communities.
• Loma Linda is a quiet, residential university community located in the picturesque San Bernardino Valley, offering easy access to beaches, mountains, and popular venues.

Program Overview

The Loma Linda University Pediatric Residency Program is dedicated to excellence in both our resident education and patient care. You’ll develop your ability to serve patients skillfully and compassionately through comprehensive training, including :

• Relevant clinical experiences.
• Pertinent and up-to-date lectures.
• Invaluable patient encounters with our diverse population.

Program Highlights

• Our accredited program has been training expert health professionals since 1966.
• We offer residents a path to pediatric primary care through our Riverside-based Primary Care Track.
• Every year, we treat over 134,000 critically ill or injured children at our Pediatric Emergency Room.
• More than 15,000 children are admitted to our inpatient ward every year.
• We have over 250 special beds just for kids, including one of the largest NICU units in Southern California.
• Our resident-run general pediatric clinic cares for more than 20,000 underserved patients yearly.
• We are a faith-based institution promoting healing and teaching to make children whole.

Curriculum

You’ll learn from a wide variety of formats, from clinical exposure to more structured conferences. Topics are focused around preparing residents for the Pediatric Board Exam. Our evidence-based curriculum is guided by resources like up-to-date guidelines, review articles and published reports.

Our residents — supported by expert faculty — develop their clinical decision-making skills while serving a large population of patients. Our evidence-based didactics support your clinical education and prepare you for a career as a lifelong learner. Didactics are derived from:

• Current guidelines
• Review articles
• Published reports

Despite busy clinical duties, you’re given “protected time” during didactics to focus and learn about the topic at hand. You also participate in giving didactics to learn about different teaching styles for a wide variety of learners.

Curriculum Highlights

• Your faculty mentor and experienced resident mentor help guide your education.
• Integrated wellness activities help you manage your workload healthily.
• Choose an elective in your field of interest and focus on preparing for your career during each year of residency.
• Provide much-needed support to underserved youth in our community.
• Experience another culture while developing useful skills on international rotations.
• Learn how to manage critically ill patients transported via ambulance and helicopter.

Transport

Due to our large catchment area, senior residents often take “Transport” call during PICU or consult rotations. You will lead a multidisciplinary team to transport critically ill patients from community hospitals via ambulance or helicopter for admission to our PICU or ward floors. Transport call provides you varied learning opportunities:

• View community hospital resources and the management of ill patients
• Triage a patient’s needs
• Foster independence in managing critically ill patients in a multidisciplinary team (with RT and RN support)

International Rotations

Our third year residents attended the delivery of twins in Malamulo Adventist Hospital in Malawi

Senior residents travel to Loma Linda University Health’s international partner sites in Malawi and Guam. There, you’ll use your unique skills and talents to help patients in resource-poor countries. Residents are not only exposed to another culture, but also gain knowledge of different health systems and unique diseases. Further, you’ll learn to provide care with limited resources available. 

Many residents partake in these international rotations each year and return with enriched clinical skills and a new perspective on their clinical practice.

OK Kids/Advocacy

The OK Kids rotation provides interns the opportunity to:

• Lecture at schools and community centers.
• Participate in outreach projects with homeless children.
• Work at clinics for underserved youth. 

During the summer months, you’ll participate in Operation Fit, a week-long camp for our young patients and families interested in learning about healthy eating habits and active living. Interested residents also have the opportunity to travel with a team of physicians to Sacramento for pediatric advocacy, and to participate in important discussions about the future of pediatrics.

Mentorship

We understand that the transition from medical school to residency can often be challenging. Interns are paired with chief residents and third year seniors to smooth this progression. Resident mentors serve as resources to answer any questions, provide assistance with navigating new rotations. Mentors also act as a social conduit to establish collegiality between residents. 

Additionally, you’ll be paired with a faculty mentor to facilitate professional development. Faculty mentors serve as teaching resources and provide role models for our fledgling pediatricians.

Training Sites

Loma Linda University Health offers opportunities to experience both internal clinics and affiliate clinics that enrich resident education. These clinics offer residents first-hand learning in diverse clinical settings. Our residents receive an accessible, comprehensive and personally rewarding graduate medical education that prepares them to excel as tomorrow’s physicians.

Loma Linda University Medical Center

Our Medical Center is an academic, tertiary-care hospital with over 48,000 admissions and 1,000,000 outpatient visits annually. The Medical Center is internationally known for innovations in infant heart transplantation and proton beam therapy.

LLU Children’s Hospital

Our Children's Hospital has 275 beds, over 8,000 annual admissions and over 160,000 annual outpatient visits. Ours is the only children's hospital in the region.

Riverside University Health System

Riverside University Health System (RUHS) is the main clinical training site for the Primary Care Track.

Social Action Community Health System

SAC is a federally qualified health center that provides health care accessibility to medically underserved people throughout our community.