Residency Program

This program is unique in that it is a combination of interactions  between the physicians in academic medicine and community pediatrics with an integrated exposure to rural health. Our training emphasizes primary care with ample exposure to subspecialties, offering a balanced experience in outpatient and inpatient  management.

The size of the program promotes a congenial, affable, and collaborative environment. The residents and their families are a close-knit group, enjoying meaningful relationships both inside and outside of the workplace. This West Texas warmth is reflected in their interactions with the staff.

The excellent training that our residents receive is reflected in the number of board certified pediatricians who have completed the three-year program. Our graduates have been extremely successful in academic medicine, in the practice of general pediatrics, and in subspecialty medicine, with successful placement of residents across the United States. I am very honored to be a part this residency training program and hope that the tradition of excellence continues into the future.

Tuesday Afternoon Educational Conference
Each week, residents have a protected 3-4 hour block devoted to lectures and small group discussions. This afternoon is protected time and residents are excused from all clinical duties. The didactic blocks are structured as an 18-month curriculum which covers all areas of general pediatrics. During residency, each resident will have gone through two cycles of the curriculum.

Clinical Simulation
Once per quarter, the residents spend a Tuesday afternoon in the SimCenter. The residents work in teams to evaluate and treat simulated patients in clinical scenarios. These scenarios are designed and observed by inpatient pediatric faculty. Faculty debriefs the resident teams after each scenario regarding medical knowledge and application, team work, and communication.

Residents as Teachers
Each resident is responsible for the teaching of a CLIPP case to the medical students each clerkship. This experience is in conjunction with the faculty mentor. Evaluations from the medical students are collected following each of these sessions. The faculty mentor provides immediate feedback to the resident regarding their teaching skills.

Morning Report
Morning report is held three days per week and is structured as a case conference. Interesting cases are presented by medical students and residents, which are discussed by the audience of faculty, residents, and students. Evidence Based Medicine presentations are monthly. Interns present a PICO question and seniors present Journal Club. Evidence-based medicine resources and statistical analysis are emphasized in these sessions.

Morbidity and Mortality
A morbidity and mortality conference is held at the end of each block during Morning Report. Residents and faculty discuss cases from the previous block.

Obstetrics and Neonatology/Pediatrics
An obstetrics and neonatology/pediatrics conference is held monthly during morning report. A case is presented from the obstetric and then the neonatology perspective. This provides an opportunity for collaboration and discussion. 

Grand Rounds
Grand rounds are held weekly on Fridays at noon and highlight topics of interest to practicing pediatricians, both generalists and sub-specialists.

Pediatric Post Graduate Conference
All residents attend the annual Pediatric Post Graduate Conference. The conference is sponsored by the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Department of Pediatrics. The purpose of this local conference is to provide health care professionals with recent and continuing advances in the field of pediatrics.

Quality Improvement Grand Rounds
At the end of each academic year, PGY2 and PGY3 residents present their QI projects in a Grand Rounds setting. All residents and pediatric faculty attend QI Grand Rounds. The residents each participate in a longitudinal QI project as part of their individualized curriculum and QI Grand Rounds provides a forum for presenting progress and discussing future PDSA cycles with faculty feedback. 

Continuity of Care Clinic

"Raider Clinic," or Continuity of Care Clinic (COC), is one of the most appreciated aspects of our pediatric residency training. One half-day per week, each resident, with supervision by an attending physician, sees a panel of patients that they will continue to follow during the duration of their three years of training. Raider Clinic is a unique stand-alone, resident-run pediatric clinic founded in July 2010. Dedicated Pediatric faculty are assigned to Raider Clinic to provide optimum supervision and training. Our residents are exposed to all aspects of the outpatient care they provide including billing and coding and referral processing. Clinic operation meetings are held quarterly with the nurses and ancillary support staff during Tuesday Conference to further engage the residents in practice management.   

Each resident is assigned one half day clinic per week which remains the same day of the week throughout the academic year. Residents are absent from their clinic only during night shift rotations and one week during ward rotations. They follow their patients throughout their residency as the primary care physician. Our residents take pride in their clinic and truly establish long lasting relationships with patients and families.

Inpatient Sites

University Medical Center

UMC is supported by the taxpayers of Lubbock County. It serves as the primary teaching hospital for the Lubbock campus of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine and affiliated residency programs. The UMC Children’s Hospital is housed on the second floor of UMC and includes a 27-bed pediatric ward and 15-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. UMC Children’s Hospital is a Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. The UMC East Tower houses the Family Birth Center and the 40-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The UMC electronic health record is integrated throughout the Texas Tech Physicians and UMC PNS outpatient clinics. The hospital is physically connected to TTUHSC, providing easy access for residents and patients.

Over their three years of residency, pediatric residents spend three blocks on UMC inpatient ward service, four blocks on night shift, two blocks in the NBN, and three blocks in the NICU. Residents perform their night and weekend call overage at UMC.

Covenant Children's Hospital

Covenant Children’s Hospital is a privately funded hospital <2 miles from TTUHSC. This 73-bed facility serves as the second teaching hospital for our residents. Covenant Children's Hospital is part of Covenant Health System—a member of St. Joseph Health System. It was founded in 1998 through the merger of two of Lubbock's health care facilities. St. Mary of the Plains and Lubbock Methodist Hospital System and has grown to become the only licensed, full-service pediatric hospital in our region, and one of only eight in the entire state of Texas. In February 2015, Covenant Children’s Hospital partnered with Texas Children’s Hospital, a leader in pediatric cardiac care. Texas Children’s cardiac surgeons travel to Lubbock to perform cardiac surgery and our patients receive the best possible care, integrated with the Texas Children’s cardiac program, while remaining close to home.

Residents spend two block rotations on this inpatient service the first year of residency, one block in each of their second and third year of residency. They spend one block in the PICU in both their second and third year. All emergency medicine rotations are completed in the Covenant Children’s Hospital Emergency Room. Residents on subspecialty services often perform consults at Covenant Children’s Hospital as well.

Outpatient Sites

Texas Tech Physicians of Lubbock

Texas Tech Physicians of Lubbock includes 3 general pediatric clinics at the Medical Pavilion, the Medical Office Plaza, and Health Point, with approximately 20,000 annual visits. Subspecialty clinics include cardiology, genetics, endocrinology, infectious diseases, nephrology, neurology, and pulmonology. These subspecialty clinics and a general clinic are housed at the Medical Pavilion. The Pavilion has 31 patient care rooms as well as a treatment room with the capability to perform several general pediatric tests such as pulmonary function testing, urine analysis, Hemoglobin A1C, EKG, basic blood work, etc.

Cleft Palate Clinic

The Cleft Palate Clinic is a multi-specialty collaboration in which infants and children with cleft palates are followed, and their care coordinated, by several specialists including pediatric ENT, plastic surgery, speech pathology, pediatrics and dentistry.

This effort is made to maximize the quality of care offered to this small yet unique subset of the pediatric population.

UMC Physician Network Services (PNS)

Our strong relationship with the UMC system allows our residents to rotate out in community clinics with the Pediatric Associates of Lubbock. Our clinical faculty associates provide a valued clinical experience during the Development Rotation and Community Rotation.

Hart School-Based Clinic

Residents on subspecialty, adolescent and ambulatory pediatrics rotations travel to Hart, Texas, to conduct a rural school-based clinic. Hart is a small farming community of about 1,200 people 65 miles north of Lubbock. A total of approximately 400 children are expected to use the service of this clinic. This clinic is located in a Health Professional Shortage Area, and the entire county has no available pediatricians.

The TTUHSC Department of Pediatrics has established an affiliation with this clinic, which calls for a primary care pediatrician to attend once a week. The school-based clinic offers primary care services to children from pre-kindergarten through high school. These services include EPSDT, minor sick care, adolescent counseling and health education. University Medical Center provides laboratory and pharmacy assistance. Also, a nearby hospital at Dimmitt will provide radiological backup support. The ongoing operation is governed by an advisory board consisting of teachers, community members and a representative of the Department of Pediatrics. 

https://www.ttuhsc.edu/medicine/pediatrics/residents/publications.aspx 

View our current residents of the Texas Tech University Pediatric Residency Program.

Meet our accomplished General Faculty and Subspecialist Faculty, whose diverse specialties and talents advance education and serve the Lubbock community and beyond here.