Why apply for specialty training at the Trust?
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) functions as one unit across two sites; the neonatal intensive care unit at Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital and the neonatal unit at the St. Mary’s Hospital site. Both sites work together jointly catering for pre-term and sick inborn and outborn babies in and around west London. Together, the two units look after all the medical problems associated with newborn babies including care of extremely pre-term infants, sick term infants with hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy and PPHN, and infants with seizures or life threatening infections. Both sites are referral centres for cooling therapy for the north-west London perinatal network.
Imperial’s NICU runs an excellent educational training programme using modern teaching facilities such as video-conferencing to include involvement of trainees on both sites in the educational programme. The unit has an integrated training programme with the department of paediatrics and PICU on the St. Mary’s Hospital site. At the Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital, neonatal life support courses are run six times each year for doctors, nurses, and midwives from around the country. Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital also runs a communication workshop for the neonatal staff in the north-west London perinatal network and regular neonatal simulation courses for the network, as well as instructor training for anyone with an interest in facilitating training in this field.
The NICU is affiliated with Imperial College school of medicine, a constituent college of the University of London. There is an active neonatal undergraduate teaching programme for the medical students from Imperial College school of medicine run at both sites. From September 2011, specialty choice modules in neonatology will be available for undergraduate students who want to further expand their neonatal experience and knowledge.
The St. Mary’s Hospital site of the NICU is the first newborn individual development care and assessment program (NIDCAP) training centre in the UK. This training centre provides training in developmental care for neonatal staff in the UK and Europe. The Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital site is one of the world’s leading centres for the treatment of birth asphyxia with therapeutic hypothermia. They are now leading further trials on the use of inhaled xenon with hypothermia.
Both sites run an active research programme whereby babies admitted to the unit participate in clinical research projects with parental consent. There are also plans to develop short subspecialty courses which would lead to certificates, diplomas and degrees.
How to successfully obtain a placement in neonatology at the Trust?
Imperial College NICU is a tertiary neonatal unit and excels in the best medical care for all sick pre-term and term infants. As such, previous experience in neonatology gives applicants a better chance of successfully gaining a placement. The following points could also be considered:
• Being passionate about neonatology specifically
• Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust is an academic health science centre, so previous research experience will prove advantageous
• A background in education will be beneficial
• Experience in making presentations, writing papers, publications, or other evidence which shows evidence of academic interest in any field is advantageous
Key information about starting in neonatology at the Trust
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust’s departments and specialties are grouped into seven clinical programme groups (CPGs), numbered one to seven. The neonatology specialty is incorporated as a part of CPG5: women’s and children’s. Maternity and paediatrics are also part of CPG5.
The chief of service of division of neonatology is Dr Merran Thomson
It is key to remember that the division of neonatology is made up of one unit which functions across two sites; the NICU at Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital and the neonatal unit at St. Mary’s Hospital.
Each of the two sites has a clinical lead who works with the chief of service. The clinical lead at St. Mary’s Hospital is Dr Sunit Godambe and the clinical lead at Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital is Dr Glynn Russell.
There is a joint and local medical and nursing induction programme for neonatology at Imperial College Healthcare. This induction includes training on equipment, ordering investigations, safeguarding children, documentation requirements, and meeting various members of the multidisciplinary team.
All new medical members are given a copy of all the neonatal guidelines on a CD prior to starting.
A mentorship programme is in place between consultants and junior staff and all educational supervisors meet London Deanery compliance requirements. A Hopper bus service provides transportation between the two various Hospital sites.
Support mechanisms and facilities available to training grade doctors
The Imperial College Healthcare NICU has an excellent educational programme in neonatology and paediatrics which also makes use of cutting edge technology to enable doctors to participate in cross-site teaching via videoconference. Educational and clinical supervision is provided to each trainee and audit projects are available to trainees, which are then presented at departmental meetings attending by Trust’s quality and safety team.
Trainees have ready access to the Imperial College London school of medicine library which has a large collection of medical journals, both electronic and in hardcopy. Study leave is also incorporated into the rota, and all trainees have access to funding which can be used to cover the cost of attending courses and conferences. Trainees also have the opportunity to participate in undergraduate teaching programmes held by the Imperial College school of medicine and to participate in ongoing research projects on the NICU.
Furthermore, NICU trainees are invited to attend network meetings and clinical presentation at the various hospitals within the network and are provided with opportunities to participate in paediatric and neonatal simulation training. In-house training in cranial ultrasound and scanning is also available, as are priority placements on Imperial’s neonatal life support (NLS) courses.
Short courses
Some of the neonatal short courses run at Imperial College Healthcare include:
• Paediatric simulation training for postgraduate medical and nursing staff (contact Dr Mehrengise Cooper)
• Neonatal simulation training for postgraduate medical and nursing staff (contact Dr Jenny Ziprin)
• Advanced communication training for nurses in the north-west London perinatal network (contact Dr Jenny Ziprin)
• NIDCAP study day (contact Dr Beryl King)
• Neonatal life support course (contact Gilly Treanor)
Our postgraduate doctors and nurses also often attend external courses including:
• Bayley-III training course
• Annual neonatal update
• Cranial ultrasound course
Continuing professional development (CPD) activities
Some of the neonatal CDP activities undertaken at Imperial College Healthcare include:
• Neonatal quality and safety meetings
• Hospital grand rounds (weekly)
• Paediatric grand rounds (weekly)
• PIC-NIC meeting (alternate Wednesdays)
• Level three safeguarding course
• Neonatal life support course
• Monthly north-west London perinatal network clinical presentations, rotating across the seven network member sites)
• Case-based discussions
• Journal club
• In situ simulation and skills drills
• Consultant-led teaching (aligned with core curriculum competencies)
• Foetus medicine meetings
• Perinatal mortality and morbidity meeting
• Obstetric liaison meeting
Ongoing research programmes at Imperial College Healthcare’s NICU
These projects include:
• Xenon-hypothermia RCT (principle investigator Prof Denis Azzopardi)
• E-prime study (principle investigator Prof David Edwards)
• Neonatal infection study (principle investigator Prof Simon Kroll)
• Neonatal pain project (principle investigator Prof Praveen Anand)
• NIPPV study – multicentre RCT (local investigator Dr Sunit Godambe)
• Lactate study (local investigator Dr Geraldine Ng)
Contacting the neonatology unit
For information on how to visit the neonatal unit or participate in educational activities, contact Imperial College Healthcare’s head of neonatal education Dr Jenny Ziprin, or the neonatal secretary at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital or the neonatal secretary at St Mary’s Hospital.
Details on how find the neonatology units can be found on the St. Mary’s Hospital contact page and the Hammersmith Hospital contact page.