Cook Children's Medical Center

Cook Children's Medical Center runs its Pediatric Nurse Residency Program from its Fort Worth, Texas campus. The 12-month, employee-based program is built for newly licensed registered nurses entering pediatric practice, and applicants choose one of two specialty tracks before starting.

The Critical and Intermediate Care track rotates residents through the emergency department, pediatric and neonatal intensive care, cardiac intensive care and stepdown, the operating room, and transitional care and rehabilitation. The Medical-Surgical and Subspecialty track focuses on patients with hematology disorders, childhood cancer, endocrine conditions, respiratory disease, surgical needs, and behavioral health concerns. In both tracks, residents work full time and paid, alongside a staff nurse mentor, on schedules that include days, nights, weekends, and holidays.

The program is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, and residents finish the year eligible to pursue national certification in pediatric nursing. The choice between two distinct clinical tracks gives new nurses an early opportunity to specialize within pediatric care, setting the program apart from single-track residencies at other children's hospitals.