Neonatal Physician Assistant Residency Program

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Physician Assistant residency program began in 2013, and has graduated 2 PA residents per year since this time. This intensive, 12-month program is designed for physician assistants who wish to sub-specialize in neonatology. The program accepts two Physician Assistant Residents (PAR) per year and runs from the beginning of November to November of the following year. This program will provide mentoring, didactic teaching, simulations, skills training, and clinical experiences to prepare the PAR to become a neonatal front line clinician. At the completion of this PA residency program, the PAR will be able to competently care for neonates in areas that extend from the delivery room, to the well-baby nursery, the neonatal intensive care unit,to post-discharge. At the completion of the program, the PAR will receive a certificate of completion of the PA Residency. The credentialing/accreditation process for PA residency programs is currently in abeyance.The CHOP PA residency program’s curriculum is in alignment with prior accreditation standards, and as soon as a new formal accreditation process is defined, the program will be applying for this designation.

The PAR will rotate through 3 sites; CHOP NICU (level IV NICU), Pennsylvania Hospital NICU, and Virtua Voorhees NICU (both level III NICUs). The PAR will be assigned a preceptor at each site and will have an outline of goals for education and skills for each rotation. Clinical exposure will include delivery room, well-baby nursery, neonatal follow-up, and care of patients on the medical and surgical NICU teams. As the resident becomes more proficient and progresses in their training, they will care for their own patient load which will increase in complexity, acuity, and volume. Following the initial 6 months of training in the level III NICUs, they will move to CHOP to complete their year. The PAR will begin rotations on nights and weekends with their preceptor during the final 3 months of the year. The PAR will also have clinical rotation time with the anesthesia, cardiac ICU, and neo-surgical teams, and will have one elective.