Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate neonatal fellows' satisfaction with their training. Methods: A survey was sent to all second and third year neonatal fellows in the U.S. and Canada(n=304). The survey was comprised of 31 multiple choice, Likert scale, ordinal and categorical questions. Anonymity was preserved. Comparisons between variables were assessed by Chi-square analysis or Fisher exact test.Results: Two hundred one fellows responded (66% response rate). The respondents were a median age of 31-35 yrs, 55% were male gender, 69% were married, and were evenly distributed between second and third year fellows. Eighty percent had a mentor on the neonatal faculty and 66% rated this mentorship as strong. 60% of the respondents had a faculty advisor. Only 2.5% felt that they would not fulfill the sub-board research requirement. 24% were unsure of completion. 83% had adequate research time, 88% had animal research opportunity, 72% had financial support for research and 90% had statistical support. 30% stated that they were too involved in clinical care to pursue research projects. 25% felt they had adequate training in securing grant funds. 92% presented their research at a national meeting, whereas 45% attended the PAS meeting last year. 69% intend to enter academic practice and 82% felt well prepared for it. 74% had a system to evaluate the faculty. Of those that did not, 79% felt that such a system would improve their training. Seventy five percent of those surveyed would recommend their program to others. Location, reputation and faculty were rated the most important reasons for choosing a neonatal fellowship. We assessed the relationship between variables. The presence of a mentor correlated with being prepared for academic practice (p=.013), plans to enter academic practice (p=.031), and recommending the fellowship to others (p=.031). While the correlation between mentorship and completion of the research requirement did not reach statistical significance, there was a trend (p=.09). The presence of a faculty advisor correlated with adequate clinical supervision (p=.043), being prepared for academic practice (p=.002), and recommending the fellowship to others(p<.0001). Conclusions: We conclude that 3 out of four neonatal fellows are satisfied with their training and feel that they will complete their research requirement. Fellows who had a mentor were more prepared for academic practice and overall were more likely to be satisfied with their fellowship training.
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(Spon by: John L. Stefano)
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Pearlman, S., Leef, K. & Sciscione, A. Neonatal Fellowship Training-Fellows' Viewpoints and the Role of Mentorship: Results of a National Survey † 1924. Pediatr Res 43 (Suppl 4), 328 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199804001-01947
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199804001-01947