Clinical training environments
Residents train across high-acuity hospital services, community-based primary care and pediatric subspecialty settings throughout Atrium Health Levine Children’s.
These experiences provide the breadth, progressive responsibility and continuity needed to develop confidence across the full spectrum of pediatric medicine.
Primary training hospital
A pediatric-focused hospital environment that supports comprehensive care, education and regional referral services.
Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital (LCH) is located on the campus of Carolinas Medical Center. It operates as a freestanding children’s hospital, with all services being pediatric-specific except for the cafeteria and laboratory.
The hospital features Child Life specialists, pediatric phlebotomy, pediatric medical assistants and medical interpreters dedicated solely to the children’s hospital.
LCH serves as a primary and secondary healthcare source for children in Charlotte and as a tertiary care regional referral center for the greater Charlotte metropolitan area, which has a population of more than one million people.
It is the busiest children’s hospital in the Carolinas and is located in the largest city in the region.
Hospital-based training
Residents assume increasing responsibility while caring for children with common, complex and subspecialty diagnoses.
General inpatient pediatrics
The Children’s Hospital Inpatient Pediatric Specialists (CHIPS) teams see more than 11,500 patients annually. Two teams are staffed by pediatric residents.
Each resident team consists of one PL-2 overseeing two interns from family medicine, pediatrics or emergency medicine. Admissions are alternated among all teams, and each team may accept patients with any subspecialty or general pediatrics diagnosis.
Third-year pediatric residents serve on an admitting team during the day and cover subspecialty teams at night, including Hematology/Oncology, Nephrology, Gastroenterology and the Newborn Nursery.
High-acuity care
Residents care for critically ill children within a multidisciplinary PICU and CVICU environment.
Ricky Hendrick Center for Intensive Care
The Ricky Hendrick Center for Intensive Care is a combined PICU and CVICU with approximately 1,500 annual admissions and a Level I Pediatric Trauma designation.
The center manages the full range of critical pediatric pathophysiology, including traumatic brain injury, multisystem organ failure, solid organ transplant, bone marrow transplant, severe septic shock, acute respiratory distress syndrome and renal failure.
Critical care support includes ECMO, high-frequency oscillatory ventilation, neurally adjusted ventilatory assist and continuous renal replacement therapy.
The PICU team includes two pediatric residents, one or two emergency medicine residents, medical students and an attending intensive care physician.
Rounds include the intensive care physician, charge nurse, respiratory therapist, pharmacist, bedside nurse and the patient’s family.
Neonatal and nursery care
Residents care for healthy newborns, critically ill infants and neonates transitioning from intensive care.
Newborn nursery
There are approximately 7,000 deliveries at CMC each year. The newborn nursery team includes two attending physicians, a pediatrics PL-3, a pediatrics PL-1, a family medicine intern and three advanced practice providers.
Residents attend low-risk deliveries in the mornings with the NICU delivery team.
Neonatal Intensive Care Nursery
The 53-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Nursery admits approximately 1,000 infants each year and serves as a regional referral center for newborn subspecialty care.
The nursery cares for infants requiring ECMO, pediatric surgery, pediatric cardiology evaluation and cardiac surgery. Care is provided by neonatal nurse practitioners and residents under the supervision of neonatologists.
PL-1 and PL-2 residents function independently and typically care for eight to 10 patients.
Neonatal Progressive Care Nursery
The 32-bed Neonatal Progressive Care Nursery serves as a step-down unit for the Neonatal Intensive Care Nursery.
The unit provides care for growing neonates who no longer require intensive care and is staffed by neonatal nurse practitioners.
A favorite educational experience for residents is the morning lecture series, which covers delivery room orientation, congenital anomalies, metabolic disorders, genetic syndromes, neonatal circulation and the transition to extrauterine life.
Community and ambulatory training
Longitudinal primary care, subspecialty exposure and adolescent medicine experiences connect residents with children and families across the region.
Continuity clinic
Myers Park Pediatrics serves as the continuity clinic for the Pediatric Residency Program and is the largest safety net provider in the region.
The patient population is primarily Medicaid and self-pay, with care provided from birth through age 18. Myers Park averages approximately 27,000 visits and provides about 41,000 immunizations annually.
Each resident is assigned to a team and cares for an individual panel of patients one half day each week, creating opportunities to build and maintain relationships with patients and families.
Ambulatory months combine acute care visits with experiences in subspecialty clinics.
Residents make significant contributions to quality initiatives at Myers Park Pediatrics, including Reach Out and Read, Toxic Stress and Resilience, Blood Pressure Monitoring, The Basics Mecklenburg and Firearm Safety.
Additional opportunities include the 5210 Childhood Healthy Habits Clinic, Asthma Clinic, Medical-Legal Partnership and Integrative Behavioral Health.
Pediatric subspecialty care
Atrium Health Levine Children’s Subspecialty Center is located on the campus of Carolinas Medical Center and serves as the central location for most pediatric subspecialty clinics.
Although pediatric clinics also have satellite locations throughout greater Charlotte, the center houses clinics in cardiology, gastroenterology, genetics, infectious disease, nephrology, orthopedics, pulmonology, rehabilitation, rheumatology and surgery.
In addition to elective experiences, residents rotate through select subspecialties during their ambulatory clinic months.
Adolescent medicine
Teen Health Connection provides specialized medical and mental healthcare for adolescents and young adults ages 11 through 25 in the Charlotte region.
Fellowship-trained, board-certified adolescent medicine physicians provide comprehensive, integrated care with social work and mental health professionals available on-site.
Teen Health Connection also provides consultation to community primary care clinicians offering reproductive healthcare and medication management for depression and anxiety.