The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a very rapidly developing country with significant improvement in health services. Disorders caused by various infectious agents constitute one of the significant causes of morbidity and mortality in Saudi children. Furthermore, the field of infectious diseases is a rapidly progressing subspecialty. Over the past two decades, marked progress has occurred in diagnostic, preventive, and therapeutic modalities. Furthermore, the list of newly discovered infectious agents and rapidly changing disease syndromes, as well as newly introduced antimicrobial agents, are ever-increasing.
Based on these, there is a growing demand for a national training program to provide pediatricians with all the necessary training towards the acquisition of the Saudi Board in Pediatric Infectious Diseases, after which the trainee will be competent in the management of various infectious disease problems in infants, children, and adolescents and will acquire a mature understanding of the related social, economic and environmental aspects.
Graduates of the pediatric fellowship program should be proficient in direct and consultative clinical care, teaching, and a selected area of research. The differentiation of interests and activities is expected and encouraged so a fellow, after completing the program, would continue to nourish and follow their area of interest in Pediatric Infectious Diseases.
Overview of training level:
Training will include developing skills as an educator, including presentation skills, curriculum development, and evaluation. Fellows will also receive training in the foundations of research design, scientific writing, and literature review.
The program consists of two years of full-time structured and supervised training in Pediatric Infectious Diseases. This will involve admission to an approved joint program with rotations in hospitals accredited for training in Pediatric Infectious Diseases. During which the trainee rotates through various rotations. Those rotations include clinical services (14 months, including two months in adult services), four months in microbiology, one month in infection control, one month in clinical immunology, one month in research, and one month in elective rotation.
The candidate is eligible for one month as an annual vacation.
During the first year, the fellow is expected to:
- Acquire a broad overview of basic sciences of infectious diseases (e.g., microbiology, immunology, pathogenesis, pharmacology, etc.).
- Gain adequate knowledge of common pediatric infectious disease problems.
- Have the following supervised rotations (mandatory):
- Consultation Service (minimum) - 6 months
- General Microbiology - 4 weeks
- Parasitology Virology-Molecular, serology two weeks
- Tuberculosis/Mycology- 2 weeks
The rest of the first year will be left for the program director to assign the fellow to any approved program rotation.
- During the second year, the fellow is expected to:
- Acquire a high level of understanding of basic sciences and their application to managing infectious disease problems.
- Learn the approach to investigate and manage complicated and rare infectious diseases.
During this year, the trainee will have a month of training in the Microbiology laboratory. The fellow will also complete the rest of the rotations not done during the first year. The elective rotation may be spent in tropical medicine or other areas of infectious diseases deemed acceptable by the program.
Academic Activity of the program:
The fellowship program offers a practical teaching curriculum for fellows to acquire the appropriate medical expertise and decision-making skills to function as practicing independent Pediatric Infectious Disease consultants. This entails teaching in areas pertinent to acquiring medical expertise and clinical decision-making skills, including clinical skills and bedside teaching. The academic program includes organized teaching in the basic and clinical sciences relevant to Pediatric Infectious Diseases. An organized curriculum assures that all major topics are covered throughout each fellow's time in the program.
This includes teaching with a patient-centered focus and may include journal clubs, research conferences, and seminars in addition to the use of an academic half-day or equivalent.
Fellows should be ensured adequate protected time to attend the structured sessions, and attendance should be taken.
The program offers a broad range of clinical experience. In addition to consultations in the general and subspecialty pediatric services, the program also offers consultations to the surgical subspecialties, the Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care Units, and the various transplantation programs. Exposure to adult infectious diseases is granted through rotations in an Adult Infectious Diseases Training Program or an organized adult infectious diseases service supervised by a qualified adult infectious disease specialist.
Academic Activity may take several forms, including:
- Case presentation and discussion
- Infectious Diseases Grand Rounds
- Microbiology Plate Rounds
- Infectious Diseases journal club
- Didactic lectures in basic science and core topics
- Morbidity and mortality meetings/rounds
- City-wide infectious diseases/Microbiology club meeting
- National and international symposia/conferences
Contact Us:
Dr. Esam Al Banyan
Program Director, Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship Training
King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh
Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs
Department of Pediatrics
- Address: P.O Box 22490, Riyadh 11426
- Phone: +966-11-8011111 ext. 53537
- Email: BanyanE@NGHA.MED.SA
Ms. Maria Beatriz Miranda
Program Secretary
Administrative Assistant
King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh
Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs
Department of Pediatrics