Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine Fellowship

OVERVIEW

ACGME #3463131017

This 2-year fellowship is centered at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP), a level 1 trauma center and home to the Children's Hospital Rehabilitation Unit (CHRU). CHP is ranked 6th in 2022-23 by US News & World Report. Fellows rotate through a comprehensive and well-rounded two-year curriculum that provides the education and experience needed to practice as a pediatric physiatrist. 

As an equity-focused division, the Division of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine is dedicated to ensuring that individuals from all backgrounds are engaged and empowered. For our patients, we believe that all children, regardless of their circumstances; deserve the opportunity to be as healthy as possible; to live their lives to the fullest; to be engaged in their communities as desired; and to be free from stigma and discrimination. For our faculty, staff, and trainees we value our differences as they enhance our ability to achieve our shared goals.

In addition to the training experiences in our hospital-based settings, our fellows have the opportunity to learn about the lives and children we serve through volunteer activities at Camp Inspire, a local camp for children with disabilities. Fellows usually attend during their 2nd year. Watch the camp's promotional video to learn more.

Adaptive Sports Opportunities

• Mighty Penguins - Just Ice It
• Three Rivers Adaptive Sports
• Steelwheelers
• Hope Network PA

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES

Rotations

Through the 2-year program residents will rotate through inpatient and outpatient settings, including specialties (i.e. NICU, PICU, orthopaedics). Self-designed study, which includes research, is offered in Year 1. For a detailed rotation schedule click here.

Department Activities

Fellows are encouraged to participate in lectures and activities hosted by the department and fellowship faculty including:

• Pediatric Grand Rounds
• PM&R Fellows Research Meetings
• Panther Rehab Grand Rounds
• Trauma Conferences
• Relevant pediatric subspecialties
• Research
• Quality improvement (Recent QI projects have included: "Reducing wait time in CP - patient satisfaction" by Dr. Dana Dasher and "A transition protocol for the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Cerebal Palsy Clinic" by Dr. Matthew MacCarthy)

Once a month the PRM faculty and fellows come together for a series of sessions geared toward practice management, quality improvement and education. A faculty member from another division/department provides a one-hour session that includes a formal didactic presentation followed by a Q&A. A journal club lead by a fellow and PRM faculty member is presented with the topic often overlapping with the didactic presentation. When the topic is particularly relevant to another training program’s objectives we invite those trainees to join our session for enhanced learning. After our didactic and journal club sessions, we conduct a process improvement meeting for our inpatient unit and have a faculty meeting where we discuss practice management and future directions.

RESEARCH

Fellows participate in a 1-month research rotation early in the 1st year to establish their research interests and have weekly protected time for research throughout the fellowship. Fellows have the opportunity to develop relationships with researchers from within the division, department, and throughout CHP.

CLINICAL EXPERIENCES

Inpatient

Exposure and training in both quarternary children's hospital-based and community-based inpatient rehabilitation is a unique feature of our training program.

Our fellows experience inpatient pediatric rehabilitation at the CHRU, an 8-bed unit that offers 24-hour nursing and physician coverage for children with medical complexity, brain injury, spinal cord injury, and other disabling conditions of childhood. The physicians lead a team in providing physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, therapeutic recreation, behavioral psychology, neuropsychology, social work, and child education.​

Fellows also gain experience on our busy pediatric rehabilitation medicine consultative service at CHP, where we assist our colleagues in evaluating acute care needs and planning for post-acute care rehabilitation needs.

Outpatient

Fellows will gain valuable hands-on experience at our exceptional outpatient facilities. Read more about our outpatient clinical sites here.

Fellows also have the opportunity to participate in the following outside our department:

• Baclofen Pump Clinic - Our fellows rotate with neurosurgery and gain experience with refilling and managing intrathecal baclofen pumps.
• LEND Clinic - One of 52 Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) programs in 44 states and the District of Columbia, fellows may participate in weekly multi-disciplinary evaluations or take part in the dynamic interdisciplinary leadership training program.
• Health Law Clinic - Fellows have the opportunity to join medical-legal teams to impact how policy is formed and advocate for social determinants of health. The clinic also provides guidance and representation in the following areas: special education, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and substitute medical decision-making.

Alumni

Download the PRM fellowship brochure for more information. General information about all pediatric fellowship programs is available here.