Medicine Pediatric Residency Program

Program Mission

The University of Minnesota Medicine Pediatric Residency Program is committed to the individualized training of residents, to the communities we serve, and to the care of patients with chronic childhood-onset diseases.

Program Overview

The hallmark of the MedPeds Residency Program training is the synergy between internal medicine and pediatrics.

UMN MedPeds provides exceptional internal medicine and pediatric training experiences at world-class hospitals, in conjunction with our categorical Internal Medicine and Pediatrics programs. We are one of the largest MedPeds programs in the country, and yet have a close-knit, thriving community of residents, their families, and graduates.

We realize that work is part of life, but life is not all about work. Our location in the Twin Cities allows our residents to blend outstanding city living with unparalleled outdoor activities.

We bring together an academic program at one of the top public research institutions in the country with an emphasis on community involvement and service to the underserved. As such, our approach to medical education is to innovate and train for the future while remembering the lessons of the past.

In the end, the strength of our program emerges from the diversity of our residents, their experiences, and our patients. Being a MedPeds physician means working at the intersection of many systems and fields, and that is where our program thrives. We welcome you to join us!

Why diversity matters

The benefits of diversity to teams and institutions are clear: teams composed of diverse individuals operate with increased creativity, promote cross-cultural competence, and make accurate diagnoses twice as often as homogenous teams1,2  Overall, racial, ethnic, and gender diversity is an institutional driver of excellence.3  In clinical medicine in particular, representative diversity within the organization (racial, ethnic and gender diversity reflective of the patient population) is linked to greater patient satisfaction,4 improved patient engagement in healthcare decisions,5 and improved health outcomes and health equity.6,7

Why inclusion matters

While recruiting for diversity is important, developing a culture of inclusion is critical to both reaping the benefits of diversity in teams, as well as retention of a diverse workforce. It is well known from other fields, that a lack of fairness leads to a significant amount of attrition.  There is some evidence to suggest that a significant amount of attrition for women and racial minorities can be attributed to discrimination and harassment, independent of pay inequity  or in equity in promotions.8–10 

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Development, Structure, & Initiatives

The University of Minnesota Med-Peds Program understands the critical importance of diversity within the physician workforce, and further, the importance of developing a culture of inclusion.

To that end, the program actively through leadership, as well as through feedback mechanisms, works to flatten the hierarchy and put patients and residents at the center of all programmatic decisions.

A few initiatives that have been developed toward this end over the years include:

  • Continual refinement of resident recruitment and ranking processes to work toward becoming an anti-racist program
  • Development of an advocacy track with accompanying Professional Development and Advocacy Days as part of Paid Time Off, so that residents are permitted extra time away from work to engage in advocacy, not just educational conferences, in addition to vacations.
  • Development and piloting of assessments and policy to address mistreatment, particularly discrimination and harassment, from patients and inter-professional staff.

Continuity Clinics

Clinic Experience

One of the central tenets of our approach to continuity clinic is that it should be valued as much as inpatient and consult rotations. As such, we’ve designed a continuity clinic model that maximizes time and continuity in clinic and minimizes transitions between inpatient and clinic. In addition, we’ve included team-based care and longitudinal clinic-based quality improvement experiences.

  • Residents attend a full day of clinic each week while on outpatient and consult rotations. This allows for more opportunities for continuity, recognizes the fact that patients seen in the morning are often different than those seen in the afternoon, and allows for dedicated teaching time over the lunch hour.
  • Residents have their own schedule whenever they are working in their continuity clinic.
  • Residents do not attend clinic while on inpatient rotations. This alleviates the stress of moving between inpatient and clinic-based responsibilities and improves teamwork and efficiency on the inpatient services. 
  • Residents are split into clinic and day specific teams. At any given time, ½ of the team will be on an inpatient service, and ½ of the team will be on an outpatient service. The team on the outpatient service provides coverage and follow-up on patient issues for the inpatient team. Hand-off allows for the smooth flow of patient care across rotations.

Community-University Health Care Center (CUHCC)

CUHCC is a University of Minnesota affiliated community clinic serving a large diverse inner-city population.

M Health Fairview Clinic - Eagan

M Health Fairview-Eagan is a state-of-the-art primary care clinic providing innovative, high-quality care to a diverse suburban population.

HealthPartners-Midway Clinic

The Midway clinic serves an inner-city population in St. Paul and benefits from the resources brought to bear by HealthPartners.

Benefits

Stipend Base Rates

Rates for 2023-2024

  • PGY 1: $64,958 annual, $2,498.38 biweekly
  • PGY 2: $66,957 annual, $2,575.27 biweekly
  • PGY 3: $69,231 annual, $2,662.73 biweekly
  • PGY 4: $71,447 annual, $2,747.96 biweekly

Educational Allowance

  • $300 per residency year, for a total of $1200 throughout the course of residency
  • Examples of eligible educational allowance expenses include (but are not limited to) books, journal subscriptions, medical software, travel to scientific/medical conferences, board prep materials, cost of ABP board exam, cost of Step 3 exams, medical licensure

Insurance, Tax, Tuition Benefits

  • Health insurance: single and family coverage
  • Optional prescription, dental, vision insurance
  • Life insurance: $50,000 basic group term life and AD&D insurance provided by the university. Additional supplemental plans are available.
  • Disability insurance: residents are automatically enrolled in short and long-term disability insurance
  • Malpractice insurance

Tax Benefits

  • Health care flexible spending account
  • Dependent day-care flexible spending account
  • Optional retirement plan contributions, deferred compensation plan

Tuition

  • In-state University of Minnesota tuition rates for spouse and immediate family

PTO, Leave Benefits

  • 24 days per residency year, for total of 96 days throughout the course of residency
  • Paid maternity and paternity leave

On-the-Job Benefits

  • Access to departmental iPad, if requested
  • Free parking at all sites during rotations and clinics
  • Discounted metro passes
  • Embroidered lab coats, scrubs
  • Lunches at core conferences
  • Meal allowance on inpatient service
  • Child care centers at UMN and VAMC

Additional Benefits

  • Free access to campus libraries
  • Free Google Suite access
  • Free Medline searches, MD consults, and many other online databases and journals
  • Discounts on a myriad of events and services: professional and collegiate athletics, fine arts, movies, technology, museums, film, state fair, home services, professional services, events coordination, and more
  • Photocopying privileges
  • Spouse/significant other group
  • Access to the UMN Rec Center, and site-based fitness facilities

Certifications

All MedPeds residents are required to have certification in BLS, ACLS, PALS, and NRP prior to the start of rotations during intern year. Prior to the start of intern orientation, incoming interns must have valid BLS and ACLS certification. During intern orientation, the program will provide PALS and NRP. The residency can assist in arranging re-certifications for advancing senior residents.

 

Administration

mike-aylward

Program Director

Dr. Mike Aylward

Dr Aarti Bhatt

Associate Program Director

Dr. Aarti Bhatt

Image of Dr. Anthony Williams

Associate Program Director

Dr. Anthony Williams

Image of Chief Resident Dr. Amirth Shettigar

Chief Resident

Dr. Amrith Shettigar

 

Image of Erica King

Program Administrator

Erica King

Phone: (612) 624-0990

Fax: (612) 625-3238

References

  1. Ely RJ, Thomas DA. Cultural Diversity at Work: The Effects of Diversity Perspectives on Work Group Processes and Outcomes. Adm Sci Q. 2006;46(2):229. doi:10.2307/2667087
  2. Stahl GK, Maznevski ML, Voigt A, Jonsen K. Unraveling the effects of cultural diversity in teams: A meta-analysis of research on multicultural work groups. J Int Bus Stud. 2010;41(4):690-709. doi:10.1057/jibs.2009.85
  3. Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). Striving Toward Excellence: Faculty Diversity in Medical Education. Washington, DC; 2009. https://members.aamc.org/eweb/upload/Striving Towards Excellent Faculty Diversity in Med Ed.pdf. Accessed July 15, 2019.
  4. Cooper-patrick L, Gallo JJ, Gonzales JJ, Powe NR, Nelson C, Ford DE. Race, Gender, and Partnership in the Patient-Physician Relationship. J Am Med Assoc. 1999;282(6):583-589.
  5. Saha S, Komaromy M, Koepsell TD, Bindman AB. Patient-physician racial concordance and the perceived quality and use of health care. Arch Intern Med. 1999;159(9):997-1004. doi:10.1001/archinte.159.9.997
  6. Alsan M, Garrick O, Graziani GC. Does Diversity Matter For Health? Experimental Evidence from Oakland. Cambridge, MA; 2019. https://www.nber.org/papers/w24787.pdf.
  7. Smedley BD, Stith AY, Nelson AR. Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care. Washington DC: The National Academies Press; 2003. doi:10.17226/10260
  8. Corporate Leavers Survey 2007: The Cost of Employee Turnover Due Solely to Unfairness in the Workplace.; 2007. https://www.lpfi.org/sites/default/files/corporate-leavers-survey.pdf.
  9. Roberson QM, Colquitt JA, Roberson QM. Shared and Configural Justice : a Social Network Model of Justice in Teams. Acad Manag Rev. 2005;30(3):595-607.
  10. Cropanzano RS, Ambrose ML, Kulik CT, Li Y. The Fork in the Road: Diversity Management and Organizational Justice. Oxford Handb Justice Work. 2015;(June 2018). doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199981410.013.27
  11. Milem JF, Chang MJ, Antonio AL. Making Diversity Work on Campus: A Research-Based Perspective. Washington, DC; 2005.
  12. Castillo-Page L. Assessing the Climate and Culture Around Diversity and Inclusion in Academic Medicine. Acad Med. 2012;87(10):1313.
  13. Milem JF, Dey EL, White CB. Diversity Considerations in Health Professions Education. In: Smedley B, Butler A, Bristow L, eds. In the Nation’s Compelling Interest: Ensuring Diversity in the Health-Care Workforce. Washington, DC: National Academies Press (US); 2004:345-390. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK216014/?report=reader.

Make a Difference

Help us address the immediate needs and long-term sustainability of resident wellbeing initiatives, activities and services by donating to the Internal Medicine Pediatrics Residency Education Fund. This fund will also enable our program to offer more wellness and community-building activities.

Center for the Art of Medicine

Several MedPeds faculty are involved in the Medical School's Center for the Art of Medicine:

Learn more here

Watch their award-winning production, Art + Medicine: Speaking of Race here

Dr. Mike Aylward receives the ACGME’s 2022 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award

Dr. Michael Aylward is the program director for the internal medicine-pediatrics program at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis. The awardees join an outstanding group of previous honorees whose work and contributions to graduate medical education (GME) represent the best in the field. Read the ACGME’s Honoring Excellence Q&A with Dr. Aylward