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I will post here a post from the subreddit of neonatology. Awaiting your replies. Will cross-post answers from here to the reddit forum.

Hey all, I am currently a junior in high school, and I am interested in the field of medicine. My grandfather was a doctor, and although I never got to meet him, I would like to follow in his footsteps and become one myself. I have a couple questions about the specialty of Neonatology. I know the track of how to become a Neonatologist, but wondered what would benefit me now/through my undergrad and into medical school. I have access to the best hospital in Maine, since my works there, and I plan to volunteer there ASAP.

Now I have some questions about being an actual Neonatologist. What exactly, like daily, do Neonatologists do? I have a general idea, but a more in depth explanation would be great. Where would be some of the best NICU's to work at/check out? I am willing to go anywhere in the US, and even overseas to English speaking countries. I'm bilingual (Spanish) but I would only be comfortable working in an English-dominant setting. How much do Neonatologists make yearly, starting out, and with experience? Does this specialty consume your life, or are the hours manageable?

Answers to any of these would be very appreciated, and any questions about be would be fine as well :-) Thank you!

Original Post in Reddit - LINK: http://www.reddit.com/r/neonatology/comments/yo9bd/hey_all_i_have_a_few_questions_about_being_a/

This is a good question, one that we should ask ourselves. Let's hope many members share their personal stories!

My original plan was to become a general paediatrician. But, I was hooked by neonatal medicine during my first rotation in the NICU, during my training in paediatrics. Much thanks to a great mentor. I have not regretted that I took that path.

I really enjoy the combination of work we do: well-baby checks in the maternity ward, caring for infantsin the neonatal ward, meeting ex-premies at the follow-up-clinic, research and teaching. With age, I tend to enjoy the daytime work with follow-up clinics and teaching more and more, but the thrill when complicated things happen during night hours is still something I like... With all good tools we have, I often feel good about what we, as a team, have achieved for a sick baby. In short, I think that there a few medical specialities that are as interesting, rewarding, and challenging.

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Cross Post from Reddit:

reddit user:mkd-kj

Neonatology is the one field of medicine where most of the patients will tend to outlive their doctors !!! This points to the fact that neonatology is a very rewarding field where a good outcome ensures a full lifetime addition to the survival of the patient. No other branch of medicine can do that...

reddit user: perfectEnglish

There is also another side to the story. Some insults in the neonatal period can have disastrous long-term consequences. Eg. Birth asphyxia, hypoglycemia, Intraventricular bleeds(Grade 4)

This makes some decisions very difficult to make in the NICU. For example whether to continue support to a preterm with grade 4 IVH ?

Involving the parents in the care of the baby is the best way to reach an amicable decision. There is no black or white. Despite the best intentions, medico-legal problems do occur when outcome does not match parent's expectations.

Prognostication is not always 100 % perfect

reddit user:bootable_brain

As a neonatologist look forward to - Night calls (plenty of night calls...most of the women seem to deliver at night !!!) - Duties on weekends and on holidays - Definitely some amount of stress and tension..but then which medical field is free of stress !

Work is usually divided into four parts 1 - Attending deliveries ( normal deliveries / caesarian sections ) -- a thorough knowledge of neonatal resuscitation is compulsory -- many times complicated deliveries will need a full neonatal team for resuscitation

2 - Work in the NICU 2a - Procedures like intubation, central line insertion, lumbar punctures, intercostal tube insertion, etc 2b - Frequent assessment of patients 2c - Able to handle ventilators 2d - Lot of calculations for TPNs, electrolyte disturbance corrections, infusion calculations 2e - Lot of interaction with parents -- lots 2f - Most of the neonatal conditions is easily diagnosable at the first look (eg. RDS, MAS, Congenital anomalies, etc) ..however there also many which are very difficult to diagnose (e.g. Inborn error of metabolisms, 3 day old babies who come in shock, etc)

3 - Work in the post-natal wards ( Doing rounds of normal babies - examining them - detecting any problems - talking to parents - solving breast-feeding issues - etc)

4- Clinic work -- Usually follow up of NICU graduates...may be done by neonatologist or by a seperate teamof pediatricians

No matter how hectic the work is, it is really rewarding seeing a sick baby improve and seeing the faces of the parents light up. Knowing that you have really made a difference not only to the baby's life but also affected the life of the parents....very rewarding...very moving...

reddit user:infrno31

I rotated with a neonatologist for a week as a medical school student and I throughly enjoyed it. As Bootable_brain says it's amazing seeing sick babies improve, and seeing just how resilient they are. There was easily two cases where I thought for sure that the odds were heavily stacked against the baby, and there was realistically no chance, when both of them pulled through it was truly a sight to be hold. It's a ton of work, but everything in medicine is, it's easily one of the most rewarding specialties in medicine especially if you enjoy dealing with procedures and IC units and dealing with children but still getting a lot of time to talk with patients (in this case mostly their families).

The pay from what I know is very good especially compared to others in pediatrics, the hours are intense but you can easily have a life outside of it. Good luck!

reddit user:99nicu

I agree with inferno31 regarding the resilience of the newborns. They really have a lot of potential to recover from near impossible situations and then go on to be adorable children later on (from personal experience). It is such a pleasure to see a cheerful 2 year old girl when the mom is telling you...do you remember her....she was the preemie who weighed 700 grams at birth and was in the NICU for 3months....

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