About The Pediatric Specialties Fall Match (PSFM)

The Pediatric Fall Specialties Match (PSFM) includes the following subspecialties:

Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics is the discipline that provides diagnosis, treatment, and management of developmental and behavioral issues in infants, toddlers, children, and adolescents. This includes the evaluation of normative conditions across developmental domains and the treatment of complex disorders including autism spectrum disorders, ADHD, and intellectual disabilities. Applicants must complete a three year residency in general pediatrics. Fellowships are three years in length.

Pediatric Critical Care Medicine physicians work in hospital intensive care units managing the overall care of critically ill medical and surgical children.

The training program provides subspecialty residents with a foundation for understanding the pathopsychology of acute, life-threatening disease, as well as the physiology of advanced life support, to prepare them for the care of critically ill pediatric patients.

Applicants must have completed a residency in pediatrics or anesthesiology. Pediatric critical care medicine fellowships are three years in length

Pediatric Emergency Medicine is the management of the acutely ill or injured child, in the setting of an emergency department.

Applicants must have completed a residency in pediatrics or emergency medicine.

Pediatric emergency fellowships are two to three years in length

Pediatric Nephrology is a specialty which involves the diagnosis and treatment of infants, children and adolescents with renal and urinary tract disorders and hypertension from all causes. This includes treatment of common conditions, such as urinary tract infection and hypertension, and complex diseases such chronic kidney disease and end stage kidney disease as well as the provision of dialysis for acute and chronic renal failure and medical management of renal transplantation in children.

Training consists of a three year fellowship following completion of a pediatric residency or equivalent international training in pediatrics.

Pediatric Rheumatology is the diagnosis and management of children with rheumatic illness and those conditions that may mimic these illnesses.

Applicants must have completed a residency in pediatrics or combined program in internal medicine and pediatrics.

The following sponsoring organizations for PSFM have requested the NRMP conduct a match program:

Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics

Pediatric Critical Care Medicine program directors

American Society of Pediatric Nephrology

American Academy of Pediatrics

Pediatric Rheumatology program directors

Please refer to the Schedule of Dates for the specific PSFM Match dates

Specialty Matches conducted by the NRMP are not centralized applications services. Candidates apply directly to the residency program that interests them.

A directory of programs participating in the last match is available in Participating Programs in Previous Match. Once a match begins, registered participants have access to a real-time directory of registered programs located in the Match Site. Program Directors also will have access to a real-time listing of applicants registered for the current match. Another source of information is the Graduate Medical Education Directory published by the American Medical Association. This publication includes the names and addresses of all accredited programs regardless of whether the program participates in the Pediatrics Specialties Fall Matching Program.

For more information and statistics on these fellowships, log on to the American Medical Association's interactive online program called Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database Access (FREIDA).

Before registering, please review the SMS Match Participation Agreement. By registering with the match and submitting a certified rank order list (ROL), applicants and programs agree to abide by the outcome of the match. Failure to do so is a breach of the Agreement and violators may be subject to penalties under the NRMP's Violations Policy. Both applicants and programs must follow the cardinal rule that neither must ask the other to make a commitment before the submission of ROLs. It is to be expected that one may express a high level of interest in the other; however, it is not acceptable for one to ask the other how one will be ranked.

Any verbal or written contract between an applicant and a program prior to the submission of the ROL is a material violation of the SMS Match Participation Agreement, and violators may be subject to penalties under the NRMP's Violations Policy. The final preference of program directors and applicants as reflected on the submitted ROLs will determine the offering of positions and the placement of applicants.

The Application Process

Candidates must apply to the programs of their choice using the method accepted by the program. Pediatric Critical Care, Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Pediatric Rheumatology subspecialties participating in the Pediatrics Specialties Fall Match for the 2011 appointment year will participate in the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). ERAS, a service developed by the AAMC, transmits application materials via the Internet to programs in residency and selected fellowship specialties. Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics will not participate in ERAS. A few programs may use their own application for Residency. Do not send any program applications for Residency to the NRMP.

Program directors review candidates' credentials and, if interested, invite them for interviews. Applicants also are responsible for ensuring that they meet all program prerequisites and institutional policies regarding eligibility for appointment to a fellowship position prior to ranking a program through the NRMP

Applicants who have not completed prerequisite training in an accredited ACGME program in the U.S., or a similar program in Canada accredited by the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, must be certified by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG).

Updated 12/02/2011