Practices and education surrounding anticipated periviable deliveries among neonatal-perinatal medicine and maternal-fetal medicine fellowship programs

Objectives:to explore national practices of periviable decision-making and care, and to determine and compare trainee education in this domain, within neonatal-perinatal medicine (npp) and maternal-fetal medicine (mfmp) fellowship programs.study design:a 75-item survey was sent to npp and mfmp program directors in the united states.results:in all, 79 of 168 surveys were completed (47%). mfmps reported offering active interventions for bigger or more mature fetuses (versus npps). variability exists in estimated frequency of simultaneous antenatal counseling by both specialties (range 0 to 90%) and of inter-specialty communication before consultation (range 5 to 100%). one-quarter of mfmps reported no fellow education regarding periviable deliveries, versus 2% of npps (p=0.002); 40% of mfmps teach fellows about periviable ethics, versus 63% of npps (p=0.05). npps more frequently utilize role modeling (p=0.01) and simulation (p=0.01) as learning methods.conclusion:npps and mfmps report different, often asynchronous, practices and fellow education regarding antenatal counseling and resuscitation at periviability.