A Week of J2 & Neonatology

I'm on pedi second jeopardy. For a week, which started at 8am on Friday. So far, so good. I'd be surprised if I get jeopardized this time of year. It's quiet in pedi-land. That being said, the head neonatologist said he was going to try and jeopardize me this weekend for a transport. He was, of course, kidding. They would essentially need to have 3 transports going at the same time for the second jeopardy person to get called in. Usually the NICU team can cover a transport, and if needed, they call in the Jeopardy resident to go on a transport if the NICU is busy. Or, if there is an intern working overnight in the NICU, then a senior resident will get called in to go with the intern on the transport.

I've been in the NICU a lot this month, more or less hanging out since the transitional nursery is next to the NICU, and there is a resident call room in the NICU. I've also been hanging out in the afternoons trying to improve my neonatal IV skills. (I suspect that next year in Johannesburg I will be responsible for doing a lot more procedures than we do here).

The NICU staff have been asking when I will be back in the NICU. (It won't be until January). A few have asked if I'm considering a NICU fellowship. I guess after everything that happened in February, I have a bit of a fan club in the NICU. I have actually pondered a NICU fellowship, more than once. From an international perspective, infant mortality is a significant issue and neonatology would be a great skill to take abroad. But, the idea of adding three more years of training is not appealing. Maybe if there were a combined NICU/Pedi ICU/Adult ICU fellowship, I could be tempted to consider it...

If you hear me talk about applying for a fellowship, knock some sense in me. I can easily see myself applying for a fellowship to defer figuring out what I want to do after residency...