Educational Conferences

The general objectives of the educational program in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at the University of Vermont include:

• To prepare our graduate neonatologists for the American Board of Pediatrics' sub-board in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, and to ensure our graduates are outstanding clinicians.
• To develop clinical management and cognitive skills appropriate to facilitate normal neonatal physiology and reverse or ameliorate pathology.
• To understand the physiology and pathophysiology of the fetus and neonate.
• To appreciate the impact of maternal, antepartum, and intrapartum conditions on fetal and neonatal well-being.
• To acquire sufficient knowledge of study design, data collection, data analysis, and critical thought processes to permit valid interpretation of the evolving literature.
• To develop teaching skills appropriate to communicate essential knowledge to trainees and health professionals.

Lectures and other resources are as follows:

• Core Clinical Curriculum (weekly) – Includes pathophysiology and selected clinical topics presented by neonatal, pediatric, and other faculty.
• Neonatology Journal club (monthly) –Fellows present pertinent articles (both recent and from classic articles in neonatal evidence-based medicine literature) with close attending mentoring and facilitated discussion.
• QI lectures/discussions (monthly) – A “flipped classroom" facilitated discussion of quality improvement and clinical practice topics from the Cochrane Neonatal Group and Vermont Oxford Network.
• Neonatal Board Review (monthly) – Facilitated review of board preparation topics and questions.
• Research, Professionalism and Ethics Seminars (monthly) – Instruction on research design and analysis, ethical frameworks, and professional development (topics such as teaching, family centered care).
• Morbidity and Mortality (monthly) –Review of service conference with neonatal faculty and staff.  An additional quarterly in-depth review of individual cases also takes place.
• Resuscitation Committee (monthly) – Case review and practice improvement for neonatal resuscitation.
• Perinatal Conference (bi-monthly) – Case review of admissions and pending deliveries with MFM and neonatal faculty as well as review of relevant topics presented jointly by MFM and NPM fellows.
• Multidisciplinary Rounds (weekly) – Case review of current infants in the NICU, focusing on social context and coordination of care. For on-service fellow.
• Fellows also attend Pediatric Professor Rounds, Pediatric Grand Rounds, and Maternal Fetal Medicine conferences (weekly), as applicable.

A Joint Fellow Conference is offered approximately twice yearly, in a rotating collaboration with the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and includes teaching on clinical care, clinical simulation (both with hi-fidelity manikin and standardized patients), research design, and quality improvement. This collaboration also provides informal forum for networking with regional faculty and fellows.