The Lightbulb Moment: Embedding Innnovation in Practice

Workshop on Perinatal Practice Strategies 2009 Summary

Written by Mark Mammel, Workshop Chair.

This year's annual retreat in the sun, held in Phoenix, AZ, April 3-5, marked the 32nd annual Workshop on Perinatal Practice Strategies.

Sponsored and planned under the auspices of the Perinatal Executive Committee, we again ventured to make this meeting one that is unique and different in scope and content from any other educational offering on our calendar. Our topic, Innovation in Practice, comtinued a general theme of change, the future, and our role in the evolving practice of neonatology that we've pursued these past few years.

The meeting actually began a few weeks before we arrived in Arizona, with pre-conference articles, a short survey and other materials posted online for participants to access in preparation for the meeting. On Friday, we hit the ground running with the Coding Seminar, in which Drs. Gil Martin and Rich Molteni reviewed current coding and recent changes using an audience participation format. Friday afternoon, Carl Bose, chair of the SoPPe Executive Committee, and Mark Mammel, Workshop Planning Group Chair, welcomed everyone and introduced John Kattwinkel, the current Virginia Apgar awardee, who spoke on team building and leadership, using his own rich experiences as a backdrop for teaching points.

John Hartline, our master of audience participation technology, set the stage for the meeting with demographic and practice-related questions answered in real time by meeting participants. Ken Slaw and Gautham Suresh presented a brief introduction into leadership training using material for the AAP Pediatric Leadership Alliance program. The day ended with a great talk by Judith Palfrey, the AAP President-elect, who showed us that she has a keen understanding of Perinatal Section issues and our role in the AAP.

Saturday morning, as always, was filled with small group workshops covering many topics, spanning leadership styles and interpretation of quality assessment data interpretation to issues in neonatal resuscitation. The afternoon was free time for the conference participants, and the weather was good. We wrapped up the conference on Sunday morning with an informative session by members of the Committee on Fetus and Newborn, a remarkable talk on ending a career and moving to retirement by Bob Hall, and finally, an update by Paul Miles from the American Board of Pediatrics on maintenance of certification.

All in all, the Spring Workshop on Perinatal Practice Strategies continues to be an unusual opportunity to connect with friends and meet world-class speakers in a relaxed setting, and think more broadly than usual about what we do and why we do it.

Workshop on Perinatal Practice Strategies 2010: Working With Others: Working Together! - Scottsdale, AZ (April 9-11, 2010)

Originally conceived and planned in 1988 by the late Joe Butterfield, this meeting is designed to help neonatologists in all types of practices learn skills necessary to "get the job done," as opposed to more traditional meetings designed to discuss treatment strategies, use of medications, and so on - or how to "do the job". Sponsored by the AAP Section on Perinatal Pediatrics and the American Academy of Pediatrics and taking place at the beautiful DoubleTree Paradise Valley Resort.