Neonatology

Tongji Hospital’s Department of Neonatology was established in 1984 and is one of the earliest units in China to establish a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU); in 2011, it was recognized as a National Key Clinical Specialty by the Ministry of Health (one of six nationwide). Following years of development, Tongji Hospital’s neonatal wards now have a total of 110 beds: 70 in the Hankou Main Campus and 40 in the Guanggu Campus. Medical personnel, equipment, technology, and other aspects across the different campuses are managed in an integrated manner with the same quality standards, providing medical services of equally high quality. The department has a highly qualified medical team, including several nationally renowned neonatal experts; most young and middle-aged core physicians hold doctoral degrees and have overseas study experience; the discipline has 4 physicians with senior professional titles, 3 with associate-senior professional titles, 1 doctoral supervisor, and 4 master’s supervisors; the discipline leader is Professor Rong Zhihui. Professor Rong Zhihui currently serves as a standing committee member of the Neonatology Professional Committee of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, a member of its Respiratory Group and deputy head of its Nutrition Group, a standing committee member of the Perinatal Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, a member of the Neonatology Group of the Pediatrics Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, deputy editor-in-chief of the national five-year-program planning textbook for higher medical and pharmaceutical institutions, Pediatrics (6th, 7th, and 8th editions), one of the chief editors of the 9th edition, an editorial board member of the national seven-year- and eight-year-program planning textbook for medical students at institutions of higher education, Pediatrics (1st and 2nd editions), an editorial board member of Practical Neonatology, 4th and 5th editions, and a recipient of the inaugural China Neonatologist Award. The specialty has strong research capabilities and has successively led 9 projects, including key projects under the Ministry of Science and Technology’s “Tenth Five-Year Plan” and General and Young Investigator projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, as well as 8 provincial- and ministerial-level funded projects, among others; it has received 2 First Prizes for Scientific and Technological Progress of Hubei Province and multiple municipal science and technology achievement awards, and has published more than 300 academic papers in domestic and international journals, including more than 30 indexed by SCI. Each year, it conducts more than 10 special lecture sessions on neonatal topics; for many years, it has accepted physicians for specialty further training, nurses, and resident physicians for standardized residency training from throughout the province and indeed across the country, has trained more than 100 specialty trainees, and has become a training base and cradle for neonatologists throughout the region and the country. The diagnostic and treatment programs and disease names currently offered by the discipline include: • Ventilators and their various modes: neonatal respiratory distress syndrome. • Bedside cranial ultrasound and brain function monitoring: early diagnosis of intracranial hemorrhage and hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy in preterm infants, etc. • Bedside lung and intestinal ultrasound: improving the diagnosis of pulmonary diseases or necrotizing enterocolitis and other diseases, dynamic monitoring, reducing radiation injury, and guiding treatment. • Systematic management of extremely preterm infants: improving survival after treatment of extremely preterm infants and reducing short- and long-term complications. • Bundle management of hospital-acquired infections: reducing the incidence of hospital-acquired infections, reducing antibiotic use, etc. • Perioperative management: management before and after surgery for severe congenital malformations, such as complex congenital heart disease, giant omphalocele, esophageal atresia, diaphragmatic hernia, etc. • Fully automated arteriovenous exchange transfusion, neonatal hemolytic disease. • Inhaled nitric oxide therapy, severe neonatal pulmonary hypertension, severe respiratory failure. • Umbilical arterial and venous catheterization, PICC puncture and catheterization: parenteral nutrition, drug therapy, blood pressure monitoring. • Bedside fiberoptic bronchoscopy: diagnosis and treatment of severe pulmonary diseases. • Mild hypothermia therapy, neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. • Peritoneal dialysis and blood purification: neonatal renal failure, sepsis, etc. • Bedside patent ductus arteriosus ligation: treatment of extremely ill preterm infants with severe PDA and related complications. • Bronchial incision: congenital tracheomalacia, severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia. • Gastroscopy and gastrojejunal tube placement: severe gastroesophageal reflux. • High-risk infant/preterm infant follow-up center and parent training classes: improving post-discharge management and promoting catch-up growth and neuromotor development in preterm infants. • Out-of-hospital neonatal emergency rescue and transport: treatment and transfer of high-risk neonates born in the obstetric departments of surrounding hospitals and critically ill neonates.