Soon to be PGY-1 interested in Neonatology

[djsbaseball2014]

Hey everyone,

Match is coming up in less than a month and I've been trying to distract myself from the anxiety lol. But i wanted to see if any current residents, Neo fellows or attendings had some general advice for me as a soon to be PGY-1 interested in NICU. Whether its getting involved in research early, certain electives that might be helpful to look into once i start at whatever program i match at, networking, etc!

Anything helps 🙂

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[californiadreamin23]

Focus on being a good intern for the first 6 months, and getting Step 3 over with.

NICU isn’t as competitive as it has historically been. Research, etc. is icing on the cake to make you more competitive for places like Boston, CHOP, Texas Children’s.

 

[doodle_doc]

Definitely agree with focusing on adjusting to residency during your intern year. The learning curve can be steep and stressful, so don't worry too much yet about fellowship stuff. NICU is a more popular subspecialty in pediatrics but if you look at the match data most years there are still open spots so it's not as competitive as, like, PEM.

In general, all residency programs require some sort of scholarly activity so this can be a good opportunity to find something baby or NICU-related to have on your CV. In academic centers a lot of the attendings will probably have some research interests that need an able-bodied resident to help out, so as you rotate through your program's NICU and meet some of the faculty you can start to think about putting out feelers for who's interested in what, who you like and want to work with more, etc.

But overall - focus on learning how to be a doctor and how to be a general pediatrician. The NICU side of things will come with time, if you still find neonatology to be in your future!

 

[Oso]

Agree with the above in that the focus for most of intern year and definitely the first half of it should be to be a good resident and get step 3 out of the way if possible.

If, after your NICU rotation, you're still interested, then reach out to potential mentors and try to get involved in a project or case report. Research is not necessary but many, many applicants will have some type of research done in residency on their fellowship app.

Now for your NICU rotation, if you want to make a good impression, then you need to show up prepared for rounds (ie. have numbers ready, look at XR's don't just read the reports, have plans, etc.) and have a good attitude.

In terms of electives, lots of the typical peds electives will have some usefulness for neonatology - cardiology, pulm, ID, etc.

Best of luck!

 

[AhhThnacks]

Agree with the above in that the focus for most of intern year and definitely the first half of it should be to be a good resident and get step 3 out of the way if possible.

If, after your NICU rotation, you're still interested, then reach out to potential mentors and try to get involved in a project or case report. Research is not necessary but many, many applicants will have some type of research done in residency on their fellowship app.

Now for your NICU rotation, if you want to make a good impression, then you need to show up prepared for rounds (ie. have numbers ready, look at XR's don't just read the reports, have plans, etc.) and have a good attitude.

In terms of electives, lots of the typical peds electives will have some usefulness for neonatology - cardiology, pulm, ID, etc.

Best of luck!

Thank you for this reply. I am in a similar situation, where I am interested in NICU. Could you elucidate why pulm and ID would be good electives for NICU. Or to say it a different way, what would be beneficial areas in these rotations that extrapolate to NICU?

 

[wysdoc]

Thank you for this reply. I am in a similar situation, where I am interested in NICU. Could you elucidate why pulm and ID would be good electives for NICU. Or to say it a different way, what would be beneficial areas in these rotations that extrapolate to NICU?

Many of the medical issues keeping a premature infant in the NICU involve the lungs, so an understanding of lung physiology and the use of ventilators is a big part of what you do. The same infants might have infections contracted prenatally or during their stay in the NICU so safe use of antibiotics and knowing the common organisms to test for are important.

 

[BabyDoc86]

Check out Future Neos Now - a new subgroup of the AAP Section on Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine's Trainees and Early Career Neonatologists! There are upcoming webinars on lots of topics that may interest you.