Creating Value: Many Roles of a Centralized Pediatric Fellowship Office

Pediatric medicine fellowship administration often takes place in individual divisions within a pediatric department, which may result in a lack of coordination and potential inefficiencies. A centralized fellowship office may reduce overlap and streamline shared processes. In this paper, the authors first share the results of a survey of designated institutional officials of children’s hospitals ranked by US News & World Report 2019-2020 (n=83) which asked whether the programs had a centralized fellowship office and included questions about the governance structure, funding sources, and barriers to successful implementation. Of the 50 programs that responded (60.2%), slightly more than half (54%; 27) reported using a centralized pediatric fellowship office. Most were overseen by a combination of the pediatrics department and graduate medical education office. After discussing the survey results, the authors describe their model for a centralized office that administers multiple pediatric medicine fellowship programs at a medium-sized children’s hospital. With a focus on recruitment, education, research, wellness, and a personal/professional development curriculum, their office is staffed by a full-time administrative coordinator and a director and can serve as a model for programs looking to implement a centralized fellowship office.