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.

STUDY DESIGN

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.

RESULT

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.

CONCLUSION

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.