Who is performing medical procedures in the neonatal intensive care unit?
OBJECTIVE
Owing to resident work-hour reductions and more permanent personnel in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU), we sought to determine if pediatric housestaff are missing learning opportunities in procedural training due to non-participation.


METHODS
A prospective, observational study was conducted at an academic NICU using self-reported data from neonatal personnel after attempting 188 procedures on 109 neonates, and analyzed using Fisher's exact and χ (2)-tests.


RESULTS
Housestaff first attempted 32% of procedures (P<0.001) and were less likely to make attempts early in the academic year (P<0.001). There was no significant difference in attempts based on urgency of situation (P=0.742). Of procedures performed by non-housestaff personnel, 93% were completed while housestaff were present elsewhere in the unit.


CONCLUSIONS
Pediatric housestaff performed the minority of procedures in the NICU, even in non-urgent situations, and were often uninvolved in other procedures, representing missed learning opportunities.
Division of Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520-8064, USA.
Y F
YF
Gozzo
C L
CL
Cummings
R L
RL
Chapman
M J
MJ
Bizzarro
M R
MR
Mercurio
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000193:education*; D011446:Prospective Studies