In recent years, Jefferson surgeons have performed more than 1,400 operations on children annually, approximately 50 of them involving newborns. Cases represent a broad range of clinical concerns. Residents may treat healthy children undergoing outpatient operative procedures for isolated surgical conditions, as well as operate on a premature infant with complex, multiple, congenital anomalies diagnosed in utero.

For two months during the third year of the program, residents rotate through the Alfred I. duPont Institute, an affiliate hospital located in Wilmington, Delaware, with which Jefferson has a joint-program agreement in pediatrics. As an internationally renowned tertiary-care facility devoted exclusively to children, infants and neonates, the Institute offers residents a rich experience in all types of pediatric surgery and intensive care.

As a general children's hospital with highly specialized expertise, the Institute performs approximately 900 surgical procedures annually. Of its 128 beds, 16 are intensive-care beds. Areas of special interest include pediatric solid organ transplantation, cardiac surgery, orthopaedic problems, neurologic and gastroenterologic problems and, in general, all forms of congenital disorders. While at the Institute, residents participate in weekly conferences, lectures and grand rounds. The pediatric surgery clinic provides outpatient pre- and postoperative experience.

Pediatric surgeons in the program serve as staff at both Jefferson, Bryn Mawr Hospital and the Institute. They help to expose residents to all aspects of surgical care for children and infants. Residents are responsible for daily care of patients, including neonates in the intensive-care nursery and children in the pediatric intensive-care unit. Under direct supervision, the resident participates in all pediatric surgical procedures, from outpatient herniographies to complex tracheo-esophageal fistulae repairs and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) cannulations.

Residents interested in pediatric surgery should note that Jefferson is still one of only several select centers in the country to offer ECMO. The pediatric surgical service is intimately involved in this endeavor, both in terms of patient care and research. Jefferson is also in the forefront of advanced ventilation techniques for newborns.