Road map to developing a fellowship program in a tertiary care hospital.

BACKGROUND: The American Academy of Pediatrics has identified the need for more subspecialists. Beginning a pediatric pulmonary fellowship program in a tertiary care hospital can be a challenging process. Persistence, perseverance, and working through barriers to education are important strides to take toward achieving this goal. We share our experience with this endeavor. The objective of this study was to describe our experience developing a pediatric pulmonary fellowship program, the challenges we faced, and the methods we used to meet and overcome those challenges.

METHODS: Self-reflection by the program director, associate director, and coordinator involved in the development and implementation of a successful fellowship program. This includes the step by step process, effort, and time commitment needed for planning and implementing a fellowship program. Our goals are to share this information with the medical community. RESULTS/OUTCOMES/IMPROVEMENTS: Planning, preparing, and implementing a pediatric pulmonary fellowship program can be challenging in the current economic climate, especially considering budget constraints and increasingly demanding clinical mandates. Department chairs and administrators view work relative value units as a marker for remuneration; educational efforts are more often an unfunded mandate. Major difficulties included imposing new educational expectations on the clinical staff and expanding the budget to include fellows' costs. Developing a program information form (PIF) was a work-in-progress over a two-year period with the dedicated staff meeting regularly during this time.