The Division of Pediatric Surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School offers a two year chief residency in Pediatric Surgery with one resident position available every other year.  Trainees entering this program must have completed a general surgery residency and meet the requirements for certification by the American Board of Surgery.  The resident must also be ATLS certified at the provider level as a minimum.  The resident spends the majority of time at the Children's Medical Center Dallas, a 322 bed hospital which features 46 ICU Beds in two locations, various outpatient clinics, one of which is for pediatric surgery, and a state-of-the-art emergency center designed specifically for children.  Parkland Health and Hospital System, which is adjacent to Children's contains a 76-bed intensive care nursery which serves the Parkland obstetric service of over 14,000 deliveries per year and newborns transferred from other hospitals.

The first year of residency inludes a one month rotation in the intensive care nursery, and a two month rotation on the pediatric urology service.  The entire second year is spent on the general pediatric surgery service.  During the second year, the resident will be encouraged to act as the teaching assistant for progressively more complex procedures.  The resident will take in-house call every third night while on the general pediatric surgery service and part of that call responsibility will be to act as the team leader for initial assessment and management of the seriously injured child.  The pediatric surgery service and part of that call responsibility will be to act as the team leader for initial assessment and management of the seriously injured child.  The chief resident will be expected to teach the general surgery residents on a daily basis and will participate in the organization of the formal teaching conferences.  Conferences include combined Pathology, Radiology, and Pediatric Surgery Conference (biweekly), Morbidity-Mortality Conference (monthly), Chief's Teaching Conference (weekly), and Tumor Conference (weekly).  The Chief Resident will also see outpatients in the pediatric surgery clinic one afternoon per week.

In 2002, the pediatric surgery service performed over 3,500 cases at Children's Medical Center Dallas, saw 5,000 outpatients, and was primarily responsible for over 1,000 injured children that were admitted to the hospital.  The service is composed of five full-time and seven clinical faculty members, all of whom atively participate in the educational mission of the division.  The chief resident is 14 months prior to the start of the residency through the Pediatric Surgery Match Program.

Inquiries concerning the Pediatric Surgery Residency should be directed to:

Barry Hicks, M.D.
Professor and Director Pediatric Surgery Training Program
Division of Pediatric Surgery
Children's Medical Center Dallas

1935 Motor Street
Dallas, Texas 75235