See What’s New at
McLane Children’s Scott & White!
New Neonatology Fellowship Program
The Department of Pediatrics at Scott & White Healthcare and McLane
Children’s Hospital Scott & White are pleased to announce their first
fellowship education program! The first fellow begins his three-year
neonatology training program this summer.
T
he neonatology fellowship
program was approved in
2011 for pediatricians who
have completed their medical residency
training programs and have chosen
careers in neonatology. “Institutions
must have a breadth and depth of
services in neonatology available, and
take care of a high number of neonatal
patients to be approved for a fellowship
program,” says Madhava R. Beeram,
MD, physician-in-chief at McLane
Children’s Hospital, and chairman
of the Department of Pediatrics at
Scott & White Healthcare and Texas
A&M Health Science Center College of
Medicine. “We also had to offer every
subspecialty in pediatrics, the highest
level of obstetrical care and perinatology
[specialists in maternal-fetal medicine],
respiratory therapy, nursing, and more.”
Hospitals also must have a dedicated
pediatric transport system that allows
caregivers to retrieve patients at other
hospitals who need to be moved in
order to receive advanced medical care,
extracorporeal membrane oxygenation
for compromised lung and heart
function, and body-cooling capabilities
for neonates whose brains were deprived
of oxygen during delivery. In essence,
these services help constitute the
highest possible level of care for critically
ill infants, and they’re all available at Scott
& White. In some cases, philanthropy
made the difference in making these
services available, especially the Cool
Cap™ System, which was funded by
Children’s Miracle Network and the
Scott & White Auxiliary.
Neonatology research is also a
critical component for an organization
to be awarded a fellowship program.
Scott & White pediatric neonatal
experts presented some of their research
findings at an international medical
conference in April. They described
their leadership on two important
NEONATAL CARE NUMBERS
9
1,000
neonatologists
neonatal nurse
practitioners
infants cared for annually
8
The Catalyst Summer 12 | sw.org
18
eonatal
n
respiratory
therapists
issues related to neonatal care: reducing
central line catheter-related infections,
and reducing the number of pneumonia
cases, related to respirator use in
neonatal patients.
“It’s vitally important to have
neonatal care right here so Central
Texas families don’t have to travel to
larger cities like Houston and Dallas.
It’s hard enough to have a sick newborn,
so for families to be able to access the
highest level of neonatal care nearby
means they can get their baby’s care
close to home and not leave their family
support systems,” says Dr. Beeram.
He says that additional neonatal
intensive care services are available
at several Scott & White locations,
including Scott & White Hospital Round Rock, Hillcrest Baptist Medical
Center in Waco, Metroplex Health
System in Killeen, and Scott & White
Hospital - College Station, scheduled to
open next year. n
Ranked in the top 10%
of neonatal units nationwide
by the Vermont-Oxford Network