Inpatient Clinical Locations

Children’s Nebraska is a freestanding children’s hospital located just 3.4 miles from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. With more than 200 beds and over 8,000 annual admissions, the hospital provides a diverse clinical experience, ranging from common pediatric conditions to medically complex subspecialty and surgical patients. The hospital includes the original Wiebe Tower and the Hubbard Center for Children, a 10-story expansion that opened in 2021.

Residents spend a total of nine months on the inpatient wards throughout their training, working across four inpatient teams with an emphasis on family-centered, multidisciplinary care. Interns complete five months, developing skills in patient management, admissions, and clinical decision-making. Second-year residents spend two months supervising interns and medical students, leading rounds, and managing patient care, including night float responsibilities. Third-year residents complete an additional two months in supervisory roles, including a dedicated senior supervisory experience designed to prepare them for independent practice in which they participate in triage phone calls and assisting with organizing patient placement. This progressive responsibility provides residents with increasing autonomy, leadership opportunities and experience managing a broad range of pediatric patients.

The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Children’s Nebraska has 32 beds and over 950 admissions annually. There are 2-4 residents each month in the PICU working alongside APPs. Residents are responsible for 2-6 patients depending on the census. The PICU has both medical and surgical patients, including post-operative neurosurgical patients. The Children’s PICU has an active ECMO team which on average is activated about one time per month. There is a new, separate Cardiac ICU (CICU) in the Hubbard Center for Children.

Residents spend 1 month in the PICU during both their second and third years. They will spend approximately two weeks on day shifts (6am – 7pm), rounding with the entire PICU team and caring for their assigned patients. The afternoon is spent with new admissions and teaching. One week is spent doing night float. When able, an additional week is spent in a flex/swing role in which the resident arrives later and assists with procedures, new admission, and other acute patient care needs. The PICU attendings have developed an active curriculum that occurs every Wednesday afternoon. 

As a second year, residents spend 1 month of days on the UNMC inpatient service. The pediatric service at UNMC admits approximately 1,000 patients yearly with an average daily census of 5-10 patients. The census is composed of general pediatric patients, as well as subspecialty patients including nephrology, surgical co-management and hematology/oncology (along with the bone marrow transplant team) patients. UNMC provides residents with more independence and autonomy.

Third year residents spend 1 month of night float on the UNMC inpatient service. The resident will work 5 nights per week, arriving at 5:00pm and working until 7:00am.

The UNMC Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is a level III, 36 bed unit with approximately 350 admissions annually. Roughly 15% of admissions are newborns weighing <1500g and over 70% of NICU patients require mechanical ventilation during their stay. The University of Nebraska Medical Center has 2600 deliveries annually and residents in the NICU are responsible for attending the delivery of all preterm and high-risk births.

During the intern year, residents spend 1 month in the NICU at UNMC. They are generally responsible for 7-8 patients. They work closely with the nurse practitioners who cover the NICU 24 hours/day. The NICU team is composed of an attending, 1-2 interns, 1 second year resident and a number of NNP’s, as well as many ancillary staff including RTs, dieticians, nurse case managers, social workers and pediatric pharmacists. The interns arrive around 6am to see their patients, attend conference, and then round with the entire NICU team. Residents do one week of nights while on the NICU. The afternoons are spent with new admissions, simulations, and teaching. Check out generally occurs between 4:00-5:00 pm.