Background: Physician-scientists are a crucial link between clinical practice and research. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) initiated the Marshall Klaus Perinatal Research Award to enhance the development of research skills among physicians training in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine.
Methods: In this study, we sought to identify trends in funding along with geographical and demographic variables of the applicants and mentees and assess the applicants' scholarly productivity and funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). We reviewed the data of applicants and awardees from 2015-2024.
Results: We found that basic science applications had a higher funding likelihood than clinical/translational applications. The geographical distribution of awardees is skewed. There was a significant association between awardee status and K08 or K23 funding attainment.
Conclusions: Future efforts should support more equitable award distribution and a diverse research landscape in neonatal-perinatal medicine.
Objective: Inhaled medications are commonly used at our single-center, Level IV neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). We lacked a standardized process for measuring efficacy of these medications to guide optimal duration of use, potentially leading to their overuse.
Methods: We utilized quality improvement methodology to reduce the length of inhaled hypertonic saline (HTS) course durations and high frequency albuterol use. Interventions included education, data sharing, and implementation of a respiratory therapy assessment tool.
Results: The average inhaled HTS course duration decreased from 8.7 to 4.2 days. The percentage of q4 albuterol administrations per total albuterol doses administered monthly decreased from 39 to 20%.
Conclusion: Developing a shared mental model between interprofessional providers for the indication and effect of inhaled agents and standardizing assessment of these medications' efficacy can reduce their overuse.
Utilization of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) varies widely in the United States. Over recent decades, there has been a growth in NICUs, that varies by region, and has not been correlated to changes in demand or illness severity. Unnecessary NICU admissions are costly, stressful to families, may increase the risk of hospital acquired morbidities, and decrease breast feeding. Most of the variation in NICU utilization is based on the care of late preterm, early term, and term babies and is related to hospital level factors, including financial incentives, driving utilization. Improvement strategies to reduce variation include regionalization of care, certificate of need legislation, improving discharge processes, and caring for babies with some conditions such as Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome or those with risk factors for sepsis outside of the NICU.
Objective: To determine the association between preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) and neurodevelopmental impairment (NDI) at 3 years corrected age (CA) in infants born before 29 weeks of gestational age (GA).
Design/methods: Infants born before 29 weeks GA between 2005 and 2017 were included. The primary outcome was a composite of death or NDI (full-scale intelligence quotient<85, cerebral palsy, vision or hearing impairment) at 3 years of CA. Infants were stratified by maternal PPROM status. Associations were explored using multivariate models.
Results: Of 1231 participants, 481 were in the PPROM group, and 750 were in the No PPROM group. After adjusting for factors, the odds ratio of death or NDI for PPROM vs. No PPROM was 1.22 (95% Confidence Interval 0.93-1.59).
Conclusion: Our study suggests that PPROM was not associated with an increased risk of a composite outcome of death or NDI at 3 years CA.