BayCare to Train Next Generation of Pediatricians

Tampa’s Bay’s largest provider of children’s health services is taking its commitment to kids to the next level by offering a new pediatrics residency program based at St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital.

The three-year BayCare Pediatrics Residency is now accepting applications and will welcome its first class of eight residents on July 1, 2022. It is the second residency BayCare has added to its institutional-sponsored Graduate Medical Education program this year. The first, in Psychiatry, received more than 700 applications in the first week.

This announcement comes as the nation faces a shortage of physicians, which the American Medical Association says is likely to worsen by pandemic-related rates of early retirement and physician burnout. Nearly 45% of active physicians are 55 or older. 

The good news is residents often stay and practice in the cities and towns where they are trained.

“We are fortunate to have a history of strong post-graduate programs sponsored by excellent partners including University of South Florida and Florida State University,” said Karen Navarra, BayCare’s director of graduate medical education. “In addition, now our own team at BayCare can provide the rigorous oversight required to manage residency programs. In both models, we’re able to leverage trusted expertise to attract new doctors, who will train here in our community and then hopefully choose to stay.”

BayCare’s university-sponsored programs include two family medicine residencies and a sports medicine fellowship. 

In the new, community care-focused pediatrics program, residents will gain an excellent foundation in general and subspecialty pediatric care.  They also will be serving the community, providing much needed services to children and their families in multiple locations.

Training will be led by faculty affiliated with St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital, a 219-bed facility that’s home to a medical team of more than 200 physicians with close to 100 pediatric specialists representing nearly all major pediatric subspecialties. Services include the Steinbrenner Emergency/Trauma Center staffed by emergency physicians specifically trained to care for pediatric emergencies; neonatal, pediatric and pediatric cardiac intensive care units; a comprehensive congenital cardiac program; pediatric hematology-oncology diagnosis and treatment; a Chronic-Complex Clinic for medically fragile children; and much more. Together, BayCare Kids and St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital offer specialized inpatient and outpatient pediatric care to thousands of children and their families each year in multiple locations throughout west central Florida.

“As a dedicated children’s hospital, we are committed to improving the health of children in our community,” said Sarah Naumowich, president of St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital. “Through education, research and innovation, the new pediatric residency program will enhance the quality of care provided to our patients for generations to come. This program represents a continued investment in our children, whose unique health needs deserve expert care as special as they are.”

For more information about residencies at BayCare, visit Residency Programs at BayCare.