Sanford Children's Earns Accreditation for Pediatric Residency Program

The pediatric residency program at Sanford Children's Hospital has been accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, and will begin admitting residents next year, the Sioux Falls, SD-based health system announced this week.

The residency program is led by Joseph Zenal, Jr., MD, a professor at the Department of Pediatrics for the Sanford School of Medicine of The University of South Dakota. He is also executive director of Medical Education at Sanford Health. The program will hold six residents each year in a three-year training curriculum. Sanford Children's will admit its first residency class in the summer of 2011.

"Sanford Children's Hospital will be the center of training for our residents; however, the program will take advantage of the distinctive characteristics of healthcare in South Dakota, including rural pediatrics and the unique aspects of caring for Native American children," Zenel said.

The program will tap into opportunities at existing and developing Sanford Children's World Clinics in the United States, and international clinics. It will also offer students opportunities with Sanford Research and Sanford Children's Health Research Center. Pediatric residents will work with medical students from the Sanford School of Medicine of The University of South Dakota.

"The immediate goal of the residency program is to enhance the care of children in the Upper Midwest by training specialists in children's health who will populate our communities, both large and small," said H. Eugene Hoyme, MD, chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Sanford School of Medicine of The University of South Dakota. "By keeping local doctors in the area, we are taking pediatric care in this region to the next level."

Sanford Children's Hospital has 76 general pediatric beds, 58 neonatal ICU beds, and 12 pediatric ICU beds. The hospital has 200 pediatric and family physicians, and 350 pediatric-trained staff.