Academic Curriculum and Research

Academic Curriculum

Three-year long program designed in anticipation of the pending ACGME-program requirements for Child Abuse Pediatrics fellowships. Clinical experience includes physical abuse, sexual abuse, all forms of neglect, failure to thrive and pediatric condition falsification. 

Fellows learn to work in a trans-disciplinary medical team from a variety of specialties. Fellows participate in the the community multidisciplinary investigation of child abuse, perform inpatient consults, outpatient evaluations and provide court testimony as needed.

The Child Abuse Pediatrics Fellowship at Children's Mercy Kansas City offers a three-year curriculum incorporating dedicated time for research activities; clinical assignments with the child abuse team and with other pertinent pediatric subspecialties and forensic pathology; assignments and ongoing program exposure to community entities involved with the issue of child maltreatment; and abundant opportunity to become an accomplished teacher. Fellow input is sought to continually improve the training experiences.

1st Year Rotations

• Six Months CARE Clinic emphasis on physical and sexual abuse
• Two months of research
• One month forensic pathology
• One month ER/trauma
• One month neurosurgery/burns
• One month mental health/community agencies

2nd Year Rotations

• One month Failure to Thrive Clinic
• Four months CARE Clinic emphasis on physical and sexual abuse
• Four months of research
• One month pediatric gynecology
• One month pediatric rehabilitation
• One month pediatric radiology

3rd Year Rotations

• Five months research
• Four months CARE Clinic emphasis of physical and sexual abuse
• One month ER/trauma
• One month behavior/development
• One month bleeding disorders/bone metabolism

Required Participation

• Children's Mercy Kansas City Common Fellowship Curriculum conference monthly
• Weekly case reviews and nurse practitioner case reviews
• State child abuse evaluation network
• At least one major national child abuse conference per year. Options include San Diego Conference on Child Maltreatment, APSAC Colloquium, Shaken Baby Conference, Helfer Society Meeting, etc.
• Child Fatality Review monthly

View other GME or hospital conferences.

Research

Research opportunities include:

• Injury prevention.
• Improving accuracy in the diagnosis of abuse.
• Design and implementation of educational materials for medical and non-medical professionals.
• On-going research focused on improving child-abuse education and services for physicians and investigators and improving accuracy in the clinical diagnosis of child abuse.
• Administrative skills and public policy advocacy are developed through involvement in ongoing team projects and community organizations.