COMMITTEES

COMMITTEE ON PRACTICE

The Committee on Practice considers projects to help neonatologists in all types of practice to:

• analyze the scope of practice activities and spectrum of duties of practice associates,
• facilitate management needs of the practice,
• understand workforce needs, and
• recruit new associates to fulfill the missions and visions of their practices.

To support fellows as they plan their careers and to support practices that are seeking new associates, the committee prepares and publishes materials designed to help individuals and practices evaluate their career and practice goals. From these materials, seminars for fellows are presented to aid them in understanding and finding a position that fits their needs and interests.

To support practices, the committee addresses issues common to all types of practices, including workforce evaluation, protocol development, and recordkeeping.

The Committee seeks ideas about non-clinical, organizational challenges confronting practices and recommendations for future projects. The Committee meets annually at the Spring Workshop in Arizona and communicates electronically throughout the year.

Current Initiatives

• Exploring and Evaluating Neonatal Practices. This Web site, created by the Committee on Practice, explores the scope and spectrum of practice activities and collegial interactions, enhances career planning, supports and provides tools for analysis of individual practices. In 2002, in response to the Orgnization of Neonatal Trining Program Directors' request for materials to help fellows analyze potential positions, the Committee published Understanding a Practice Venue [J Perinatol 2002;22:supl 1 (April 2002)].
• Seminars for Neonatology Fellows: One-half day to one-day long seminars exploring long-term trends in neonatology, workforce demographics, practice activities, types of practice organization, legal issues in contracts, collegiality among associates, and interviewing. In these intereactive seminars, fellows explore their personal career vision and determine important factors in selecting positions after fellowship.
• Clinical Document Repository Project: The goal of this project is to collect protocols currently in use; review them for content, completeness, and generalizability; and to make them available through the website to help new units in protocol development and established units in reviewing their existing operating procedures.
• Practice Activities in Later-Career Neonatology: With a median age of 53, nearly one-half of practicing neonatologists are entering their later career years--exploring needed (eg, for health reasons) or desired (eg, for lifestyle reasons) modifications in practice intensity, time, work distribution, or all three. Some are contemplating early retirement or career change, within pediatrics or out of medicine entirely. The Committee plans to explore the components of successful and happy late-career professionals in neonatology in order to develop recommendations for practices as they prepare their members for their inevitable late careers.
• Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and the NICU: On adopting a system of EMR and data storage, NICUs often need to modify the EMR to allow for specific needs of our population. The committee is exploring the needed changes and seeks to define a listing of essentials for the EMR used in the NICU. Currently, the existing examples are being studied (2010).

Committee Documents

• Exploring and Evaluating Practices of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine [Published online, Fall 2010] View online »
• Understanding a Practice Venue [J Perinatol 2002;22:supl 1 (April 2002)] View online »

Committee Members

• John Hartline, MD, (District VI). Consultant, American Academy of Pediatrics, Department of Education, Co-Chair »
• DeWayne Pursley MD, MPH (District I), Harvard Medical School, Co-Chair »
• Claudia Alleyne, MD (District IX) Kaiser Permanente Hospitals, Los Angeles, CA »
• Steve Block, MD (District IV) Wake Forest University School of Medicine, NC »
• Robert Cicco, M. (District III) West Penn Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA »
• Gilbert Martin, MD (District IX) Liaison, Coding Trainers Committee, West Covina, CA »
• Michele Walsh, MD (District V) Case Western Reserve Medical School, Cleveland, OH »
• Robert White, MD (District V) Memorial Hospital, South Bend, IN »

Get Involved!

• Preparing neonatal fellows for practice, whether academic, private, mixed, or hospital-employed: We need examples of strategies used for successful recruiting, either as a practice seeking colleagues or as an individual seeking a position. Please send your ideas. Contact John Hartline»
• Document registry: Submit protocols or to offer assistance in collecting, reviewing, and disseminating documents after review. Contact DeWayne Pursley»
• Late-career activities: As we begin this project, the committee would like suggestions and comments on the following: Contact John Hartline»
• Actual examples of late-career modifications that were successful from perspective of the individual neonatologist, and how they were accomplished. Tell us your story.
• Examples of practice accommodations for later-career colleagues needing or wanting to modify their time on duty, intensity of their clinical work, or distribution of practice activities (eg, less clinical, more research, teaching or administrative)
• Ideas regarding strategies practices could incorporate to prospectively plan for late career options for members of their practice.