Pediatric Anesthesiology Fellowship

Clinical training takes place at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, a stand-alone quaternary care hospital for children and is consistently ranked among the top 10 children’s hospitals in the country by U.S. News & World Report.

The Department Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine (ACCM) merged in 2000 and is uniquely comprised of four divisions: anesthesiology, critical care medicine, palliative care, and pain medicine. The pediatric anesthesiology fellowship became accredited by the ACGME in October 2002.

The main strength of the fellowship program lies in its educational balance of outstanding clinical cases, leadership curriculum, and clinical and basic research opportunities. The program is dedicated to teaching fellows the knowledge, skills and professionalism required for clinical excellence, promoting compassionate patient care, and maintaining a focus on physician well-being. In the process, we seek to inspire fellows with a sense of inquiry and life-long learning in order to develop leaders in pediatric anesthesiology for the 21st century.

Clinical experiences span from the operating room to the intensive care unit and includes clinical experience in wide variety of the surgical specialties, including pediatric organ transplantation. CHLA has a world-class Heart Institute and has some of the highest volumes of pediatric cardiac cases in the United States. Our fellows also gain valuable training in pediatric pain medicine, functioning as a consultant for the hospital’s comfort and pain management program and learning the art of pediatric regional anesthesiology.

Presently, there are 28 anesthetizing locations including the main operating room, ambulatory surgical care unit, cardiac catheterization laboratory and radiology.

In addition, there is a 24-bed Pediatric ICU, a 24-bed Cardiothoracic ICU, and a 58-bed NICU.

The fellowship program currently has 12 ACGME positions in the SF Match and is a one-year training program. The fellowship provides comprehensive advanced training in all aspects of pediatric anesthesiology.

Advanced fellowships include:

Pediatric Pain Medicine
Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiology

Program Fast Facts

ACGME Accredited: Yes
Fellows per year: 12
Duration: 1 year
Postgraduate Training Required: 4 years
CA Medical License Required: Yes
U.S. Citizenship Required: No
CHLA Clinical Fellows – Stipend for 2024-2025:
Post Graduate Year 4: $84,073.60 minimum
Post Graduate Year 5: $87,401.60 minimum
Post Graduate Year 6: $90,667.20 minimum
Post Graduate Year 7: $93,828.80 minimum
Post Graduate Year 8: $96,948.80 minimum
Post Graduate Year 9+: Please contact gme@chla.usc.edu
Benefits Include: Health and dental insurance, 14 days paid vacation+ 6 protected sick days, yearly educational stipend, monthly meal stipend, and 401(k) matching up to 3%

Application Process

ACCM at Children's Hospital Los Angeles currently participates in the SF Match with 12 fellowship positions available annually.

Fellowship start date for 2023-2024 academic year will be consistent with the majority of other programs nationwide. For candidates with special circumstances, variable start dates may be negotiated.

All applications for the standard one-year fellowship are through SF Match (ACGME Program ID #0420511051) and are accepted through March 31, 2024.

Current CV
Personal Statement (See SPA note)
Reference letter from your Program Director
Two reference letters from anesthesia faculty who know you well.
Most recent In-Training Exam score
Complete USMLE scores (Steps 1, 2CK, 2CS, 3) or COMLEX (DO equivalent)
Medical Student Performance Evaluation (Dean’s Letter)
Basic Examination Score

Letters of recommendation should be addressed to the program director.

Application materials will only be accepted via the SF Match.

In order to recruit excellent and diverse talent we make every effort to reduce bias in our selection process. All faculty and staff that participate in recruitment are required to complete implicit bias training.

Learn more about the Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Curriculum

The clinical training program occurs over one year including the following rotations:

Main OR and remote locations – 6 months
Cardiac Service - 2 months
Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) – 1 month
Critical Care (PICU) – 1 month
Pain Management / Regional Anesthesia – 1 month
Elective – 1 month

Fellow duty hours as dictated by the ACGME are strictly adhered to. Time away for education, vacation and/or conferences is 20 days per ABA requirements..

Didactics

Grand rounds
Resident lecture series
Anesthesiology fellow lecture series
Leadership (physician executive) training
Morbidity and mortality conference
Quality assurance conference
Journal club
Pediatric and oral board preparation
OSCE board preparation
Medical simulation
Career development course
Well-being curriculum
Quality Improvement Curriculum

Scholarly Activity

We require every fellow to be involved in scholarly activity during their fellowship year. In recent years, nearly all of our fellows had scholarly projects submitted and accepted to the Society of Pediatric Anesthesiology annual conference and were given the opportunity to present their work.

Each fellow is paired with a faculty mentor from their first day to aid in academic and professional development. In addition, there are numerous research opportunities within the Department.

Fellows and faculty are actively engaged in projects including:

Retrospective studies: Using a combination of local sources of anesthesia data for research questions (impact of specific intraoperative procedure on postoperative outcome, defining similarities between patients, predicting effects of anesthesia techniques)
Prospective and interventional studies: Effects of intraoperative procedures or anesthetics on specific patient population, predicting improvement in postoperative management
Quality improvement projects
Pain and sedation studies

Leadership Curriculum

We are a pioneer program with our professionalism and leadership curriculum (physician-executive training), which is taught throughout the fellowship program. There is an emphasis on personal growth and development in order to prepare our fellows to serve as future leaders in pediatric anesthesiology.

Course Description:

This course will increase professional effectiveness by focusing on leadership and professionalism. We will consider the idea that our influence in our medical context comes from our credibility, our ability to effectively lead, and develop alignment with others. Participants will look at dimensions of leadership including character, emotional intelligence, community, culture, organizational context, uses of power, as well as effective styles of leadership. All of these topics will focus upon the person as leader and the organizational structure that supports his/her leadership. This course is about building leadership competence and professional maturity through personal change and leading our organizational structures to patient and organizational health. In addition, there will be training in professional networking and career development.

Course Methodology:

The professional development curriculum includes a total of 30 hours of training spread through the fellowship year. The curriculum will be delivered by the faculty in the Department of Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine, assisted by other invited speakers outside the department. Within the curriculum there will be large group sessions, small group sessions with mentors, individual mentoring sessions and evaluation activities.

Course Objectives:

After completion of the professional development curriculum, the pediatric anesthesiology fellow will be able to:

Appreciate the importance of the professional behaviors related to professionalism and interpersonal and communication skills as defined by ACGME and express a willingness to incorporate these into their practice of medicine.
Demonstrate knowledge of the two ACGME competencies (professionalism and interpersonal and communication skills), of the elements of professional development (e.g., wiring and personal story), and of the tools used to assess their own professional development (e.g., leadership style, professional networking and career planning).
Describe one’s own leadership style, personal wiring and story, and the impact of these on professional behaviors.
Develop a professional networking plan, a career plan, and a professional development plan.
Demonstrate the component skills of professionalism and of interpersonal and communication skills in interaction with patients, families, and the health care team.
Recognize, appreciate, and begin to develop leadership abilities needed to deal with conflict, organization culture, power and teamwork.
Experience a learning community and understand its role in leadership development, professional shaping, and medical practice.