Clinical Experience

Children's Mercy offers an expansive and diverse patient population from which to attain clinical experience. The program is designed to provide excellent training in Pediatric Otolaryngology. 

Highlights of the Program

• The Children's Mercy Pediatric Otolaryngology Fellowship Program accepts one fellow per year for a one-year program. We received ACGME full accreditation in August 2010.

• Children's Mercy is consistently voted by the Kansas City Business Journal as one of the top places to work in Kansas City. Companies are ranked based on the results of a confidential survey completed by a percentage of their work forces.

• Children's Mercy residents and fellows are engaged in a unique training experience with a diverse clinical population and can experience a wide-ranging array of pediatric pathology. You will also have access to an approachable faculty and a variety of didactic opportunities.

• The fellowship curriculum is based out of Children's Mercy Hospital, with time divided between outpatient and inpatient clinical training. There is time allowed for research activity and support for IRB approval, research design and statistical analysis.

• Educational experiences occur primarily at Children's Mercy, but may also include The University of Kansas Medical Center. At Children's Mercy Hospital, the fellow attends a general fellowship conference series and pediatric otolaryngology lecture series which include pathology and radiology conferences. The fellow will participate in a biostatistics course and a clinical practice, and a quality improvement lecture series both offered specifically for fellows through Children's Mercy Hospital.

• The fellow will have a unique opportunity to join in a surgical mission trip to Guatemala at the end of the fellowship program, in conjunction with The University of Kansas Department of Otolaryngology and the Medical Missions Foundation.

• Life in Kansas City includes world-class jazz; even better barbecue; more than 200 fountains; multiple arts venues; and the fabulous Plaza Lights!

• The Pediatric Otolaryngology Fellowship at Children's Mercy Kansas City is designed so the fellow can be exposed to the complex and uncommon procedures that are a part of a general pediatric otolaryngology experience.

Inpatient

The fellow will be the team leader for the inpatient service. The patients will consist of both primary patients and consult patients on the inpatient wards, ER, NICU and PICU. The team consists of faculty, otolaryngology residents from KUMC, mid-level practitioners and medical students.

The fellow's operating experience is designed to allow them graduated responsibility for complex and unusual cases. As the year progresses, the fellow will be expected to transition to the faculty role as they work with the residents. Their primary focus is to participate in the cases with complicated patients and unusual procedures. These include pediatric patients with complex airway disease; sinus disease; otologic disease; benign and malignant head and neck tumors; congenital head and neck masses; plastic surgery cases including cleft palate;and patients with co-morbid conditions.

Outpatient

The fellow will see patients in the clinical setting in their own clinic, which will be supervised by an attending pediatric otolaryngologist. The fellow will also attend a neurotology clinic at least two times per month with the neurotology faculty.

The fellow will participate in multispecialty clinics including Cleft Palate clinic, Downs clinic, Aerodigestive clinic, Vascular Malformation clinic, Voice and VPI clinics, as well as Neonatal and Pediatric vent/trach clinics. The fellow will also follow patients through our multidisciplinary clinics to improve their understanding of other specialties.