Inpatient

Wards

UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital is a busy quaternary care center in north central Florida with more than 10,000 patient discharges a year. On our 88-bed ward unit, residents encounter a diverse and robust inpatient experience as they rotate through various teams with general pediatric and subspecialty patients. An intern averages five to seven patients while on service. All teams follow a multidisciplinary, patient-and-family-centered approach with residents working hand-in-hand with physician assistants, nurse practitioners, social workers, case managers, staff nurses, pharmacists and attendings to care for our diverse patient population.


Newborn Nursery

More than 2,800 infants are delivered annually at our institution. During the newborn nursery rotation at UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital, residents have the opportunity to care for newborns, as well as educate parents in areas such as breastfeeding practices and preventative health care. Additionally, residents get valuable procedural experience performing both circumcisions and frenotomies starting in their intern year. A first-year resident is responsible for the newborn nursery and is supervised by a second-year resident and a general pediatrics faculty member.


Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

In February 2017, the UF Health Shands Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) unveiled a newly renovated space for our tiniest, most vulnerable patients, and their families. Phase one of the expansion focused on creating four patient care areas known as “neighborhoods” and was completed in November 2016. Construction on phase two immediately followed and added a 1,000 sq. ft. space featuring a large family and visitor waiting area, sibling play space, and family support room. The newly renovated, 68-bed unit is a state-of-the-art facility that can care for patients that are in need of level I up to level IV care. In the NICU, residents are exposed to the full range of medical and surgical disorders of premature and term newborns, as well as to the latest technological modalities including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). First and second-year residents are given responsibilities in primary patient care in the NICU. Neonatology faculty and fellows are also present 24 hours a day for teaching, supervision, and consultation.


Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

Patients with complex conditions are cared for in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), a 24-bed unit located at UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital. The PICU provides residents with valuable experience in invasive cardiovascular monitoring, complex fluid management, ventilatory assistance, critical postoperative management, and all other areas of pediatric intensive care. The care team includes second and third-year pediatric residents. Pediatric critical care faculty and fellows are available to supervise and teach residents 24 hours a day. UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital also houses a 22-bed pediatric cardiac ICU, which residents may elect to rotate through to further their cardiology education.