Curriculum
First Year | Second Year | Third Year l Didatic Teaching l Supervision l
Overview
The curriculum for the Neonatology / Pulmonary Biology Fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is structured to provide a working environment that fosters camaraderie, educational excellence and outstanding patient care.
Trainees have the opportunity to follow and manage high-risk infants on a long-term basis, and participate in institutional and regional morbidity and mortality reviews. These experiences take place during clinical rotations in three different intensive care nurseries in Cincinnati (only one fellow on-service per hospital):
Good Samaritan Hospital delivers more than 5,000 babies annually with an active perinatal center, providing a majority of the perinatal education fellows receive.
University Hospital is a regional referral center for high-risk mothers. It provides experience with high-risk infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
The RCNIC at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is a primary referral center for the tri-state area with a delivery base of 30,000. The hospital educates fellows about the care of infants, including stabilization and transport. The majority of infant patients at Cincinnati Children's have complex pathophysiology, providing education in the care of tertiary patients.
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First Year
During the first year of training, fellows are provided with the skills required to diagnose and manage problems of the newborn infant. Trainees also identify a suitable research mentor and begin a research project in their first year.
Schedule for first-year fellows
- 5 - 7 in-house calls per month
- 4 - 5 transport calls per month (from home)
- 15 - 18 weeks NICU service
- Research for the remainder of the time
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Second Year
During the second year of training, in addition to enhancing the above skills, trainees are provided teaching opportunities and avenues for enhancement of leadership skills.
Teaching opportunities are presented in all three NICU settings, since core pediatric residents rotate through all three NICUs. Teaching opportunities in each unit vary, since NICUs at Good Samaritan Hospital and University Hospital house infants born within the hospital, while Cincinnati Children's NICU houses outborn infants.
Second-year trainees learn to identify high-risk pregnancies and evaluate fetal well-being and maturation. They also have the opportunity to become skilled in the pre-operative and post-operative management of infants requiring surgery.
Schedule for second-year fellows
- 5 - 6 in-house calls per month
- 2 - 4 transport calls per month (from home)
- 15 - 18 weeks NICU service
- Research for the remainder of the time
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Third Year
During the third year, trainees complete a research experience relevant to pregnancy, the fetus and /o r the newborn infant. Trainees may also select an available clinical elective during the third year.
Electives
There are two different electives from which to choose: CCU (Cardiac Care Unit) and Perinatology.
- The CCU elective entails caring for infants with cardiac diseases common to the neonatal period. It also allows participation in the pre- and post-operative management of these infants.
- For the perinatology elective at either University Hospital or Good Samaritan, trainees assist board-certified perinatologists in the care and management of high-risk pregnancies with the goal of understanding the pathophysiology of problem pregnancies.
Schedule for third-year fellows
- 4 in-house calls per month
- 3 - 6 weeks NICU coverage
- 3 weeks CCU / Perinatology
- Research for the remainder of the time
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Didactic Teaching
Didactic teaching during the three years of fellowship includes:
- A weekly lecture series which includes pertinent neonatoal topics, a monthly journal club as well as meetings with critical members involved in the follow-up care for the high-risk neonate
- Bi-monthly sessions in the cardiac care unit to discuss early management of neonates with or suspected to have cardiac disease
- Bi-monthly statistics lectures that include a variety of topics: critical analysis of journal articles, general statistics information and the oportunity to discuss the statistics portion of individual research projects.
- Neonatal Grand Rounds occur weekly, attended primarily by faculty and fellows, but also interested direct care staff. Each fellow is expected to present both a Grand Rounds topic and a Morbidity / Mortality case annually.
Note: Nursery / clinical coverage is provided so that all fellows are able to attend these lectures.
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Supervision
Supervision for clinic rotations is provided by the neonatology faculty assigned to that rotation. Clinic supervision is provided by Beth Haberman, MD, Jean Steichen, MD and Tom Korfhagen, MD, PhD while research supervision is the responsibility of the research mentor.
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