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WELCOME TO MY WEBPAGE !
A little information about the Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine and neonatologists:
Neonatology means ‘Study of Newborns’ in Greek. It is a fairly new branch within pediatrics. Neonatologists are doctors who have completed a specialized training in a university-hospital affiliated intensive care nursery on top of their general training in pediatrics. After completing this specialized training, physicians who pass an exam on neonatology (administered by the American Board of Pediatrics) become board-certified in neonatal-perinatal medicine.
I am board-certified both in General Pediatrics and in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine by the American Board of Pediatrics.
What should parents expect if their baby is in the intensive care nursery?
Having a sick baby in the hospital is a very frightening process for a parent. Furthermore, infants in the intensive care nursery are usually hooked to multiple cables, IV lines or breathing machines, and many times parents are not immediately able to pick up their loved one and cuddle them while they are not feeling well. All of this is very scary at the beginning, especially if the newborn was not expected to have problems after birth.
The care of a sick newborn is a complex, multi-faceted process; therefore, neonatologists are only a part of a big team taking care of the sick infant. The coordinated team work by nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, nutritionists, social workers, physicians and care coordinators make it possible to help a sick infant get better and to support the family in the process. At the beginning, seeing all the different individuals who are involved in the care of a newborn can make parents intimidated, confused; however, overtime, they will meet all the different team members and be able to feel comfortable discussing different aspects of their baby's illness while taking an active role in the care of their infant. Parents are encouraged to ask questions regarding the progress of their baby and schedule periodic family/health care provider conferences.
The length of stay in the intensive care nursery depends on several different factors. Although many babies are discharged home from the intensive care nursery within days or weeks after birth, some of the babies remain in the hospital for months. This is especially the case with babies who are very tiny and premature at the time of the birth.
About my career and how it led me to the Kaiser Permanente:
After graduating from medical school in Austria, I worked as a research assistant at the UCLA, Harbor Perinatal Research Center in Torrance, California. There, under the mentorship of very talented physicians, I became fascinated by the rapid developments in neonatology and was able to witness how new knowledge acquired in neonatology made an immediate difference in the outcomes of premature infants. During the subsequent six years, I completed training in General Pediatrics in Houston, Texas and training in Neonatology in Rochester, New York. In 2002, I moved back to California from Ohio, where I was an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Neonatology and Pulmonary Biology at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
When I returned to California, I joined the Permanente Medical Group because I believed that the close integration of physicians with a hospital system and a health care insurance as practiced by Kaiser Permanente is currently the best way to deliver patient-centered health care. Over the past several years since I joined Kaiser Permanente, the actions of the health care administration and the physician leadership have only strengthened this belief.
Something about me outside of the hospital gates:
When I am not at work, you might catch me bicycling somewhere in Sacramento or hiking a near-by trail. If I can make it to the rehearsals you might also find me singing in my church choir, an activity that I have continued since my middle-school years.
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| Karl Franzens Universitat Graz-medizinische Fakultaet, Graz, Austria |
| University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX |
| University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX |
| University of Rochester, School of Medicine & Dentistry, Rochester, NY |
| Pediatrics, American Board of Pediatrics |
| Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, American Board of Pediatrics |
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