Procedural experience of canadian neonatal-perinatal medicine fellows

Context: Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine (NPM) is a high-acuity specialty where trainees need to be proficient in complex procedural skills. The ability to perform these skills independently is an important milestone toward becoming a competent neonatologist. Aims: The aim of the study was to characterize the current procedural experience of Canadian NPM trainees, the methods for recording their experience, and how competency in procedural skills is being assessed by training programs. Subjects and Methods: A 60-item online survey was sent to all NPM trainees enrolled in an accredited training program across Canada. Statistical Analysis Used: Descriptive statistics (means, medians, standard deviations, range, and interquartile ranges) and the Mann–Whitney U-test were used. Results: Twenty fellows (27%), including ten 1 st -year and ten 2 nd -year fellows responded. Procedural experience increased with length of training. Most fellows are required to maintain a procedure log and track specific procedures. About 50% of fellows reported that logs are not required to be signed off and there is often no standardized process to determine when a fellow can independently perform a procedure. About 55% of fellows felt that they had sufficient experience to be competent upon graduation. Respondents indicated that both fellows and programs are actively working to improve the procedural experience for trainees. Conclusions: This study provides normative data regarding the procedural experience of Canadian NPM trainees. Experience increases with years of training, but there is a need to more clearly define what procedures are most critical to attain competency. Currently, procedural experience tracking is highly variable between programs.