NICU Fellow Participation in Perinatal Pediatrics
The NICU at CHAM is a Regional Perinatal Center that receives referrals from high-risk patients from a large patient population. Thus, our fellows are exposed to a diverse array of fetal and neonatal conditions. This opportunity allows our fellows to learn to consult with future parents regarding the care that will be provided for their infants and to develop and enact treatment plans for these patients
Perinatal Multidisciplinary Management Meeting
This is a biweekly interdisciplinary meeting that focuses on all high-risk pregnancies that are followed by the MFM faculty. It is attended by the fellow who is on their MFM rotation as well as the Director and/or Co-Director of Perinatal Pediatrics. Trainees participate in discussions regarding the prenatal diagnosis and management of complicated pregnancies with fetal disorders and anomalies and they gain valuable experience in the collaborative management of patients, including vital skills such as communication, weighing priorities, and formulating treatment plans for complex pregnancies and deliveries.
Outpatient Consultation Service
Parents of infants with prenatal diagnosis of complex disorders that require skillful post-natal management meet with the subspecialists that will be involved in the care of their infant after birth, including the neonatal team. The attending neonatologist and neonatal fellow on the consult service perform the prenatal consults for these patients and coordinate meetings with other Pediatric providers whose services are needed. Fellows learn to communicate effectively with parents by apprenticing with an experienced attending physician who models giving explanations in language that the future parents can understand and by ensuring comprehension. The future parents are given ample opportunity to ask questions and reflect back what was conveyed to them. During the consultation, the neonatologist and neonatal fellow give the family a tour of the NICU, explain the equipment that is commonly needed in the NICU, and introduce the future parents to some of the staff members to familiarize them with the personnel and decrease the level of stress at the time of delivery. The neonatologist and the fellow then compose a letter describing the content of the discussions for the perinatal team.
Inpatient Consultation Service
The neonatology fellows are actively involved in prenatal consults for inpatient high-risk pregnancies. Our fellows are trained by expert faculty on how to consult on a wide variety of conditions. Special attention is paid to the imminent delivery of the preterm infant. Experience is gained both through an apprenticeship model and by simulation-based training.