Neonatology Fellowship Curriculum

Board Curriculum

It is a rolling 18-month curriculum that focus on the boards content specifications
Include traditional lectures and incorporate flipped classroom model learning
Monthly board questions led by faculty

Fellows will obtain the skill of inserting peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) under the supervision of the PVAT team
Fellows are expected to successfully placed 5 PICCs, including one in a <1500g neonate
Fellows will receive a certification of completion at the end of 5 successful PICC placements

The purpose of this curriculum is to prepare our fellows to care for the most critical patients in the unit.
Under the supervision of the attending, fellows will manage all patients on ECMO.
Fellows are expected to attend ECMO/Transport meetings that occur every other month. At this meeting, previous transports and ECMO cases will be discussed. Lectures on various disease processes that lead to the necessity of ECMO, ECMO indications, complications and evidence-based practices are also presented.

All required clinical experiences are at the Children’s Hospital of Georgia NICU
Service weeks: 5/3/4 months of service during 1^st/2^nd/3^rd year, respectively. Service week is in 2-week block at a time.
Calls/month: 6/5/4 for 1^st/2^nd/3^rd year fellow. All calls are in-house.
Service fellows rarely take calls during their weeks of service.
In addition to the fellow, there are 2 advanced practice providers (APPs) on each night
Each fellow works no more than 2 weekends per month

Fellows have a total of 24 months dedicated to their scholarly projects.
Each fellow is expected to produce 1 Quality Improvement (QI) project and 1 research project
A write-up for the QI and a manuscript for the research project are required for graduation
Fellows are expected to submit their projects and present at regional and national conferences

Our fellows attend the High-Risk Developmental Clinic once a week and see our NICU graduates as well as referred patients who are at high risk for neurodevelopmental delay. They learn to perform psychological testings (Bayley-III), which assess the neurodevelopment of the patients, under the supervision of a psychometrist and physician. In addition, fellows work closely with nutritionist and speech therapist to care for patients with various nutrition issues, including failure to thrive, tube feedings and feeding difficulty.