NICU
As a first-year resident, we spend one month in the NICU and one month in the Intermediate Nursery. We work with another intern (either an Anesthesia intern or Pediatric intern) and a Senior Pediatric resident. We take call every 4th night and have one day off a week.
Here's a typical day as a NICU intern:
I arrive around 6:30-6:45 a.m. to get sign out from the post-call team and start pre-rounding on my seven or eight patients. Rounds start at 8 a.m. The team includes a Neonatology attending, a
NICU fellow, the senior resident and two interns. Along with a nutritionist, a respiratory therapist and the patient's nurse, we will discuss the short- and long-term plan for the baby. In the middle of rounds, about 10:30 a.m., we discuss all of the x-rays with the radiologist. Attendings, fellows and the senior residents will teach during rounds and we try to finish by 11:30 a.m. Afterwards, we put in orders, write notes, talk with families, do procedures and complete any other work that needs to be done. If I am not on call and don't have continuity clinic, I usually leave after sign-out at 4 p.m. If I am on-call, I go to all premature deliveries and admit any new patients or transfers. While on call, I cover the NICU, Trans and Newborn Nursery, so will get sign-out around 4 p.m. from the residents and nurse practitioners covering those units. Post-call, the team usually rounds on my patients first so I can finish my work before sign-out at noon. It is a very exciting but challenging rotation! I always feel like there is great support from my senior resident as well as the entire NICU staff--attendings, fellows, nurse practitioners, and nurses!