Neonatal Perinatal Medicine Fellowship program description

The Neonatal-Perinatal Fellowship program is an integral part of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Advocate Children's Hospital – Park Ridge. The state-of-the-art unit originally opened in 1972 and subsequently underwent significant renovation in 1999. Our current bed capacity is 54 patients and our daily census frequently equals that number. Advocate Lutheran General Hospital has over 3600 deliveries per year and the average yearly NICU admissions are around 625. The NICU is one of only three referral centers in the northeastern part of Illinois from northern Chicago to the Wisconsin border. The unit is specifically designed for the care of sick neonates and is fully equipped to provide any necessary mode of monitoring and therapy including ECMO and total body cooling.

The NICU staff includes, 10 full time board certified neonatologists, 6 fellows, 3 pediatric residents, 1 NNP and specially trained nurses. In addition, the staff is supported by therapists, audiologist, nutritionist, pediatric clinical pharmacist and social worker. Their program also has access to full range of pediatric and surgical subspecialists necessary for teaching and consultation including cardiology, neurology, genetics, gastroenterology, endocrinology, nephrology, hematology/oncology, ophthalmology, dermatology, general surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, plastic surgery, otolaryngology, urology, radiology and palliative care. Other ancillary support includes a nearby satellite laboratory, respiratory therapy and radiology services which are available 24 hours a day/7 days a week.

Academic and clinical excellence is a major goal of our fellowship program. The faculty are passionate about supervision, teaching and mentoring of the fellows. The educational experience is enhanced by regularly scheduled perinatal and neonatal morbidity and mortality conferences, journal clubs, programs for nursing education, lectures for students and house staff and specially scheduled sessions with parents, residents, nurses and other staff. Fellows participate and lead the center's quality improvement initiatives for the NICU which have resulted in the center's improvement in outcomes for the newborns cared for in the NICU.

Fellows take a proactive role in providing teaching and mentoring to residents and medical students. The fellows are involved in bedside teaching of pediatric residents and medical students during daily NICU rounds, admissions, delivery room as well as newborn nursery consultations. In addition, fellows have the opportunity to teach residents and medical students in a classroom setting. Fellows also participate in in-service education programs for nurses and respiratory therapists.