Curriculum Overview

The Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles will give fellows the tools to grow into a successful academic neonatologist. Becoming an excellent clinician depends not only on broad clinical experience, but also on acquiring the underlying knowledge about physiology, disease process, and patient care rationale. Furthermore, being a successful scholar requires a foundational knowledge of basic science and research concepts and familiarity with relevant literature.

Our curriculum design is based on adult learning principles such as self-direction and real-world application while fostering internal motivation by integration of prior knowledge and relevance to daily practice. Fellows will learn and teach in a nurturing growth mindset environment. Coaching and feedback will be provided in the clinical and didactic setting.

Core Educational Components

• We are offering a weekly, afternoon-long dedicated NPM Core Curriculum for which all fellows receive protected time off from clinical or other responsibilities. Core conferences address clinical and scientific topics and are supplemented with regional conferences as well as visiting professorships by leaders in contemporary neonatal medicine. Sessions will invite the learner to actively participate in their education. Broadly speaking, the core curriculum includes physiology, pathophysiology, and management of neonatal disease, quality improvement and healthcare system concepts, research concepts (incl. a dedicated biostatistics component), ethics and palliative care (incl. sedation and pain management), and educational concepts.
• A monthly Journal Club will give fellows an opportunity to critically appraise literature.
• A quarterly Research-In-Progress seminar will give fellows an opportunity to present the status of their current scholarly projects and receive feedback from faculty.
• In addition to the NPM core curriculum, there are dedicated conferences for ECMO teaching, ethics and palliative care (i.e. neonatology focused sessions, Bioethics Grand Rounds), and case-based “morning report” sessions which give fellows ample opportunity to practice presentations and apply teaching concepts.
• Fellows will participate in the monthly Fetal Maternal Center conference to discuss current cases and provide follow-up on patients who were born.
• When rotating at the NICU at HPMC, fellows will lead the “Bread and Butter Neonatology” teaching for the pediatric residents.
• Participation in divisional conferences such as the Neonatal Morbidity and Mortality conference and the Pediatric Surgery conferences is expected.
• Education relevant to Quality Improvement is enhanced by the fellow’s participation in Performance Improvement conference and root-cause-analysis of clinical events.
• The fellows are also invited to divisional research, quality-improvement, and educational section meetings depending on their interests and projects.
• Fellows will be provided with didactic and experiential learning opportunities to gain skills and knowledge in medical education and adult education principles.
• The CHLA Office of Graduate Medical Education hosts weekly, hour-long curriculum sessions for all pediatric subspecialty fellows, covering topics from hospital orientation, research resources, leadership development and a vast array of additional themes. These sessions provide a platform for trainees to learn and engage in discussions and promote collaboration. The calendar also includes Fellow & Resident Forum where trainees have a safe space to share feedback and suggestions for the DIO and GMEC.
• Unique to CHLA, our fellows will participate in a three-year long leadership course which has a longstanding history and was developed by faculty in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine and Anesthesia. Fellows will have the opportunity to grow their leadership mindset together with trainees in critical care medicine and interdisciplinary participants.