Highlights and Benefits

New and complex therapeutic interventions bring potential benefits, as well as new, often unanticipated, complications. Although we are eager to offer our vulnerable patients the best, most contemporary care, we need to be aware that many pharmacologic therapies have not been thoroughly examined in newborns and risk-benefit ratios are not well established. For example, SSRI’s may be the safest antidepressant for mothers during pregnancy but predispose the newborn to pulmonary hypertension, steroids after birth may offer short-term benefits but cause bowel perforation when administered with indomethacin, and maternal erythromycin treatment during breast feeding may cause pyloric stenosis. Antibiotics play a major role in the reduction of disease, but inappropriate use based on inadequate pharmacokinetic study may lead to resistant organisms and unanticipated toxicities. A better understanding of pharmacologic therapies can help us avoid undesirable consequences.

In response to these challenges, Contemporary Forums presents the 8th Annual “Neonatal Pharmacology: Clinical Update” designed for NICU professionals including physicians, nurse practitioners, clinical pharmacists, nurse managers and experienced staff nurses. This year’s new Preconference on Neonatal Nutrition will cover advances in what and how we feed these developing neonates from parenteral nutrition to human milk.

This conference offers cutting edge information from some of the leading clinical scientists in neonatology. You will learn from these experts how to integrate best practices into your unit for a broad range of neonatal drugs.

After attending this conference, you will be able to better:

• Outline current pharmaceutical management of common medical conditions in the NICU.
  
  
• Explain the pharmacology and action of selected neonatal medications.
  
  
• Evaluate drugs of choice, as well as alternatives, and choose the most appropriate drug or drug class for a disease.
  
  
• Utilize monitoring techniques to assess the impact and efficacy of drug treatment.
  
  
• Anticipate potential side effects of neonatal drug therapy, recognize adverse reactions and discuss their management.

If you are struggling to keep up with the recommended medication management for the NICU infant, if you are not sure whether medication delivery in your unit is as safe as it could be, don’t miss this opportunity to update your clinical knowledge of Neonatal Pharmacology. We look forward to seeing you in historic Boston!

Robert M. Ward, MD, FAAP, FCP
Conference Chair

David H. Adamkin, MD
Conference Planning Member

Margaret L. Blair, BSN, RN
Vice President, HealthCare Programs
Contemporary Forums