Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine

The Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine Fellowship is offered in affiliation with Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare.

The Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine Fellowship trains academic pediatric physiatrists who will provide the highest level of clinical care and advance the frontiers of the field. Most of this training takes place at world-renowned Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, located in St. Paul, Minnesota.

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Overview

For over twenty years, Gillette Children’s has been training Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation residents from the University of Minnesota, gaining accreditation status for their Pediatric Medicine Fellowship Program in 2006. Fellows are either graduates of an accredited physical medicine and rehabilitation residency program or a combined pediatrics and physical medicine and rehabilitation residency program.

The fellowship includes clinical, didactic and research experiences. The fellowship offers the opportunity to increase the individual’s knowledge of pediatric conditions including:

  • Cerebral Palsy
  • Spinal Dysraphism
  • Spinal Cord Injury
  • Acquired Brain Injury
  • Limb Deficiency
  • Neuromuscular Diseases
  • Joint Diseases
  • Neuropathies
  • Skeletal Disorders
  • Sleep Disorders
  • Pain and Palliative Care

The fellowship program is supervised by board-certified pediatric physiatrists, under the direction of Amy Authement, MD, Director of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine Fellowship at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare. Fellows will interact with a number of other educators, including: pediatric orthopaedic surgeons, pediatric neurologists with neuromuscular expertise, pediatric neurosurgeons, pediatric rheumatologists, pediatric urologists and pediatricians.

Program Activities

Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine Lecture Series

This lecture series is directed specifically at the Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine (PRM) fellows, and covers topics specific to their specialty, including; normal growth and development, the many causes of congenital and childhood onset disabilities, the management, epidemiology, and outcomes of such disabilities and additional lectures relevant to the field. Faculty give lectures approximately once a month. All PRM faculty are encouraged to attend whenever their schedule permits.

Pediatric Orthopedic Lecture Series

The Orthopedic staff at Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare has morning lectures four days per week that cover many topics pertinent to the care of children by the pediatric physiatrist. This lecture series rotates every 6 months, so the fellow should receive the bulk of the lectures during the first year of fellowship. If the fellow might benefit from a review of the previously received lecture, they are encouraged to attend a second time in the second year of their fellowship. The pediatric orthopedic staff almost exclusively provides the lectures. 

Topics include typical and atypical gait patterns, overuse musculoskeletal injuries, basic fracture management, scoliosis (idiopathic and pathologic), myelomeningocele, back pain, pathologic hip development, neurofibromatosis, genetic disorders of musculoskeletal disorders, mitochondrial disorders, and osteomyelitis, to name a few.

Gillette Children's Grand Rounds

Grand Rounds occur approximately once a month, covering topics pertinent to Gillette Children’s patient population. Physicians, nurses, therapists, researchers, guest speakers and others present the lectures.

Neuroradiology Rounds

Directed by the pediatric neuroradiology team, Neuroradiology Rounds are held twice monthly and cover interesting or challenging cases in a multidisciplinary conference. This conference is attended by pediatric neurology, pediatric physiatry, other interested consulting physicians.

Rotations & Sites

In compliance with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), the first year of the fellowship training includes inpatient and outpatient experiences in pediatric rehabilitation medicine, with dedicated research time and structured didactic education. Moving into the second year of the fellowship, trainees will have additional inpatient and outpatient work in pediatric rehabilitation medicine and an opportunity to immerse in relevant pediatric subspecialties, surgical subspecialties, electives, additional research time and continued didactic education. 

The main training site of the fellowship program is Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare, an inpatient and outpatient multi-disciplinary facility serving the needs of people with childhood-onset disabilities. Additional rotation sites include the Children’s Hospitals of Minnesota, Regions Hospital and Fairview Medical Center.

Inpatient Training Opportunities

Gillette Children's Hospital is one of eight rehab hospitals accredited by the Commission on the Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) in both pediatric inpatient rehabilitation and pediatric brain injury. This unit features 17 spacious private rooms equipped with overhead lifts, updated electronic entertainment systems and private wheelchair accessible bathrooms. Many of the rooms include state-of-the-art technology for patients who have brain and spinal cord injuries. Fellows will develop their leadership skills by overseeing a multidisciplinary team consisting of an occupational therapist, physical therapist, speech language and pathologist, psychologist, rehab nursing, social work, recreational therapist and music therapist all while caring for patients on the inpatient rehab setting. These patients may be undergoing inpatient rehabilitation for diagnosis such as traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, acute flaccid myelitis, transverse myelitis, deconditioning and more. Patients following selective dorsal rhizotomies, baclofen pump implantation and single event multilevel surgeries are also served on the inpatient rehab unit. During this time, fellows will supervise PMR residents who are rotating on the inpatient rehab unit.

Outpatient Training Opportunities

All fellows will have robust training experience in the outpatient setting. Examples include:

  • General Pediatric Rehabilitation
  • Spasticity Evaluation
  • Neuromuscular Disease
  • Prosthetic Management
  • Adult and Pediatric Cerebral Palsy
  • Botulinum Toxin
  • Intrathecal Baclofen
  • Spina Bifida
  • Osteogenesis Imperfecta
  • Brachial Plexus

Specialized Skills and Procedures in Training:

  • Phenol Intramuscular Neurolysis/Motor Point Blocks
  • Botulinum Toxin Injections
  • Intra-operative Monitoring for Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy
  • Urodynamic Assessments
  • EMG/NCS
  • Gait and Motion Analysis

Individualized Learning Experience

Additionally, fellows are encouraged to explore other relevant subspecialties to further enhance their fellowship experience. This is also an opportunity for fellows to ensure an individualized learning experience – built by them for their future in pediatric rehabilitation medicine.

Research Opportunities

Gillette Children’s provides many research opportunities and support to advance research in pediatric rehabilitation medicine. Fellows will have dedicated time throughout their training to design, implement and complete a research project and a quality improvement project during their two-year fellowship. Each fellow is assigned a research mentor to support these initiatives. Research mentors will also support research collaboration with other members of interdisciplinary teams.

Program & Policy Manuals

For information that applies to all fellows in a training program at the University of Minnesota, consult the Institution Policy Manual. Information in the Institution Policy Manual takes precedence over the Program Manual in cases where there is conflict.
 

Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine Fellowship Manual

Contact

Amy Authement, MD
Program Director
authe001@umn.edu

Mai Khou Yang
Fellowship Program Coordinator
MaiKhouYang@gillettechildrens.com
651-578-5604

Mailing Address

200 East University Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55101

Accreditation Information

The Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine Fellowship is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Up to four fellows, two per year, may be admitted to the fellowship.