Mission Statement

The mission of the Department of Pediatrics is to generate new knowledge through research, to apply this new knowledge to the highest quality health care for the prevention and treatment of illness in children, and to provide the best possible education of the next generation of medical students, physicians and other health professionals in childhood disease prevention, treatment, research, and advocacy. Through this mission the Department seeks to improve the lives of children in our community, nation and the world.

The Division of Neonatology participates fully in this mission, focusing its attention through patient care, teaching and research on medical problems that arise during infancy and the sequelae of neonatal diseases that persist into later life.

Clinical Care
For members of the division, a desire to care for critically ill infants was a principal reason for entering a career in neonatal medicine.  Continued interaction with patients and their families remains a major avenue of intellectual and emotional fulfillment for all of us. However, a number of clinically excellent neonatologists and newborn intensive care units provide care for Minnesota infants. Therefore, providing patient care alone cannot justify the existence of this division. In this arena the mission of this division is to provide clinical care to a sufficient number of infants to accomplish its research and educational goals. In addition, the Division seeks to be a resource for other newborn intensive care units by providing innovative care for infants with multiorgan system failure, complex diagnostic and surgical problems, and long-term, technology-dependent conditions.

Research
While the three pursuits of academic medicine are all important, conducting basic and clinical research in the field of neonatal medicine is the primary mission of this division. Newborn intensive care is a relatively new pediatric discipline. Although advancement of medical knowledge in this field has been rapid, anecdotal experience is often the factor that determines the type of therapy provided to our patients rather than data from well-executed clinical or basic studies. In addition, while this discipline has been instrumental in reducing mortality and morbidity during infancy, the short- and long-term financial costs to our health care system have been considerable. For both these reasons, practicing neonatology without a means to acquire knowledge that will ultimately improve the outcome in this field is unacceptable. The primary focus of this division must be to understand normal development, the mechanisms whereby it is altered, and which strategies prevent or ameliorate disease processes during this period of life.

Education
Of equal importance is a commitment to education, which, along with research, justifies the division's excellence.

Medical Students
Provide a foundation of knowledge about normal fetal development, physiologic adaptations that take place during transition from intra- to extra-uterine life, and normal growth and development during infancy. This knowledge base can then be used to better understand the congenital anomalies and disease processes that occur in the newborn and to formulate appropriate treatment plans to medically support critically ill infants.

Interns & Residents
Teach the skills needed to recognize medical problems commonly encountered during the newborn period, and to formulate appropriate evaluation and treatment plans. Residents will also attain the skills necessary to evaluate and stabilize a critically ill infant and transport the child to a facility that can deliver an appropriate level of care.

Neonatology Fellows
Prepare an individual to be the leader of the health care team in a newborn intensive care unit. While clinical competence is an important part of this role, communication with other health care professionals, parents and referring physicians is a major factor in ensuring that appropriate care is provided. It is only through participating in these activities during training that these skills are learned. The division realizes that the diverse career goals and unique strengths and limitations of neonatology fellows must be recognized. However, the principal goal of this program is to prepare Neonatology fellows for careers in academic neonatology. This includes training in research design, collection and analysis of data, and manuscript and grant writing during two of the three years of the fellowship program.

Practicing Physicians
Provide the skills necessary to stabilize ill neonates and recognize those who may benefit from transfer to a newborn intensive care unit. A principal goal of the Division is to teach referring physicians the skills needed to provide ongoing care for those infants who can safely remain within their own facilities or, once stable, can be transferred back from tertiary care units.

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