Clinical Training
In total, 12 months of fellowship are dedicated to clinical service in the NICU (in addition to 3-weeks of orientation): 5 months as a first year, 4 months as a second year and 3 months as a third year. During the last two NICU rotations in the third year, the fellow functions in a ‘junior attending’ role, gaining valuable additional experience in independently leading teams and NICU administration and leadership.
During their NICU rotations, fellows participate in delivery room resuscitations, patient care in the Intensive Care Nursery (ICN) while gaining valuable leadership skills, and in-patient prenatal consultations. Fellows learn the pathophysiology and management of simple and complex neonatal conditions. Unique to our location, unlike other tertiary care centers in the region, our fellows frequently encounter clinical situations associated with limited prenatal care such as undiagnosed prenatal conditions, enriching their clinical experience in clinical diagnosis and evaluation. Fellows also gain experience in resident education including providing resident instruction in procedural and management strategies for the neonate and assistance with neonatal resuscitation program (NRP) training of residents and the perinatal staff.
Additional aspects of clinical training include:
- 1-month rotation in Maternal-Fetal Medicine (MFM), and two 1-month rotations with Pediatric Cardiology.
- Elective rotations can be arranged based on a fellow’s individual learning needs and ultimate practice goals.
- Fellows gain experience in coordinating and managing transport of neonates.
- Fellows obtain experience in providing both in- and out-patient consultative services for high risk pregnancies.
- Fellows attend the high-risk infant follow-up clinic that serves as an adjunct to each infant’s medical home and provides periodic health and developmental surveillance and screening. For fellows intending a career focused on follow-up, clinical time can be modified to include more time in the follow-up clinic and the Rose F. Kennedy Children’s Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center.