Resident Support

The Pediatric Residency Program has a multilayered approach to monitoring resident stress and providing counseling and support services to residents. Each resident has a faculty advisor with whom he/she is expected to meet on at least a bi-monthly basis. The faculty advisors and program director maintain an "open door" policy, encouraging residents to share personal or programmatic concerns on an ad hoc basis. The majority of stressful situations in which the faculty advisors and/or program director have had to intervene have been personal rather than programmatic. Residents have been referred for both psychological and psychiatric counseling. The program has been successful in dealing with the issue of financial stress to the extent that, with programmatic support, a number of residents have been able to secure AAP resident financial scholarships.

There are also institutional supports for the residents such as the The Housestaff Council whose mission is to improve patient care and graduate medical education by facilitating communication between the residents, the university, the hospitals and our community. The House Staff Council is a representative organization serving the residents and fellows at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. The council is made up of four officers and representatives from each department. The House Staff Council also has several special interest committees with delegates that chair each one:

• Bexar County Medical Society Resident Liaison
• Medical Records Committee
• Patient Care Committee
• Child Care Services Committee
• Electronic Medical Records Committee
• Social and Cultural Committee
• Resident Benefits Committee
• TMA Liaison
• AMA Liaison
• Working Environment Committee (Call rooms, Food service, Resident Library)
• Product Evaluation Committee