Taking the Task Force to Task
1 Division of Perinatal Medicine, North Shore University Hospital, Departments of Pediatrics and Obstetrics and Gynecology, Cornell University Medical College Manhasset, NY 11030
The "Task Force" now considers neonatal intensive care a subspecialty and recommends that the time allotted the house officer in the NICU is not to exceed six months over a three-year period, the rationale being that some institutions require extensive time in intensive care and therefore deprive the house officer of primary care experience. I concur that excess time is undesirable. Nevertheless, limiting the quantity of time in the NICU limits the education of future pediatricians with critical and recovering infants, legally forcing them to admit that others are more educated to care for critically ill infants.




