Abstract
Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine (NPM) fellowship programs have undergone constant evolution since their first appearance in the 1960s. This article is the first in a seven-part series (Table 1) that critically evaluates the essentials of neonatology fellowship clinical and research education, performance assessment, and administrative support necessary to support NPM fellowship programs. This overview article will provide background on the history of NPM fellowship programs and provide a framework for the article series.Table
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 269-276 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of Perinatology |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 2022 |
Funding
Prior to the organization of formal fellowship training in NPM, newborns who required critical care were cared for by general pediatricians. With advances in the field of newborn critical care, infants born at lower gestational ages were surviving. A subset of general pediatricians developed specialized expertise in newborn critical care and offered apprentice-style training to interested pediatricians to augment their knowledge and clinical skills in caring for newborns. The term “neonatology” was coined in 1960 by Alexander Shaffer [1]. Formal fellowship training programs in neonatology began to develop in the early 1960s across the United States (USA) [2]. Most fellowships were 2 years (range 1–3 years) in length, and available neonatology fellowship positions were published annually in the September issue of the Journal of Pediatrics [2, 3]. In 1973, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) established the Section on Perinatal Pediatrics, which petitioned the ABP to establish the subspecialty of NPM. The ABP assembled a sub-board committee of NPM leaders with diverse clinical and research expertise which was led by Stanley Graven, M. D., and included Richard E. Behrman, M.D., L. Stanley James, M.D., Timothy Oliver, M.D., Mildred Stahlman, M. D., Phillip Sunshine, M.D., and William Tooley, M.D [4]. Each member of this sub-board committee wrote questions for the initial certification board exam, which they first administered to each other before offering to the larger pediatric community. In 1975, the board exam was offered in Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, and pediatricians were eligible to take the NPM board exam if they spent at least 50% of their time caring for sick newborns [3]. Three hundred and fifty-five neonatologists were board certified in 1975 [5]. Soon after developing the NPM board exam, this ABP sub-board committee also developed requirements for NPM fellowship training including a research product (e.g., first author manuscript in press or funded grant) to become board eligible [4]. Erin Cicalese 10, Karena Lawrence 11, Melissa Bauserman 12, Misty Good 4 , 5, Brittany Schwarz 13, Allison Payne 14, Melissa Carbajal 15, Robert Angert 10, Maria Gillam-Krakauer 16, Jotishna Sharma 17, Elizabeth Bonachea 8 , 9, Jennifer Trzaski 18 , 19, Lindsay Johnston 20, Patricia Chess 21 , 22, Rita Dadiz 21, Josephine Enciso 23, Alison Falck 24, Mackenzie Frost 1, Megan Gray 25, Susan Izatt 26, Sara Kane 27, Autumn Kiefer 28, Patrick Myers 29, Jayasree Nair 30, Deirdre O?Reilly 31, Taylor Sawyer 25, M. Cody Smith 28, Kate Stanley 32, Margarita Vasquez 33, C. Lydia Wraight 34
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
- Obstetrics and Gynecology