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The Incubator

Ben Courchia & Daphna Yasova Barbeau

A weekly discussion about new evidence in neonatal care and the fascinating individuals who make this progress possible. Hosted by Dr. Ben Courchia and Dr. Daphna Yasova Barbeau.

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  • 85 episodes
  • Avg 29 min
  • English

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  • S5 · E146
    July 24 · 39 min

    #455 - [Neo News] - Is Communication a Procedural Skill We're Failing to Train?

    Send us Fan Mail What if communication were treated as a procedure, something we train for and get feedback on, just like an intubation? In this episode of Neo News, Eli Cahan talks with Dr. Jessica Fry of Northwestern University and Lurie Children's Hospital about her NeoReviews piece, "Recognizing Communication as a Procedural Skill in Neonatology." Dr. Fry shares the personal loss that shaped her career, the ethical stakes of getting family communication right, and how trauma-informed care can guide something as simple as how we address parents on rounds. They discuss the critical first 48 hours after admission and how simulation-based training can build real skill over time. A candid look at a skill every NICU provider uses daily, and how we can all get better at it. Support the show As always, feel free to send us questions, comments, or suggestions to our email: nicupodcast@gmail.com. You can also contact the show through Instagram or Twitter, @nicupodcast. Or contact Ben and Daphna directly via their Twitter profiles: @drnicu and @doctordaphnamd. The papers discussed in today's episode are listed and timestamped on the webpage linked below. Enjoy!

    • Transcript
  • S5 · E145
    July 20 · 32 min

    #454 - PEEP, Tidal Volume, and Physiology, How Far Has Resuscitation Science Traveled? (ft Dr. Charles Roehr)

    Send us Fan Mail How far has delivery room ventilation really come? In this special episode, recorded in collaboration with the Neonatal Resuscitation Symposium, Ben sits down with Dr. Charles Roehr, professor of neonatology and perinatal medicine at the University of Bristol, clinical trialist at the University of Oxford, and member of ILCOR. Together they trace the evolution of respiratory support at birth, from the era of fixed inflation breaths to today's focus on physiologic stability and gentle cardiopulmonary transition. Dr. Roehr reflects on a quarter century of resuscitation science, the enduring challenge of human factors in the delivery room, and where the field may be heading, from better intrapartum monitoring to increasingly specialized resuscitation teams. Dr. Roehr will be delivering a keynote, "Optimizing Effective Ventilation Strategies in the Delivery Room," at the Neonatal Resuscitation Symposium, taking place September 10 to 11 at Indiana University in Indianapolis. Learn more and register here: https://medicine.iu.edu/pediatrics/specialties/neonatal-perinatal/education/resuscitation-symposium Support the show As always, feel free to send us questions, comments, or suggestions to our email: nicupodcast@gmail.com. You can also contact the show through Instagram or Twitter, @nicupodcast. Or contact Ben and Daphna directly via their Twitter profiles: @drnicu and @doctordaphnamd. The papers discussed in today's episode are listed and timestamped on the webpage linked below. Enjoy!

    • Transcript
  • S5 · E144
    July 18 · 1 hr 43 min

    #453 - 📑 Journal Club - The Complete Episode from July 18th 2026

    Send us Fan Mail Which PDAs actually need treatment? Can maternal voice and scent shape language outcomes? Should we cool at 35 weeks? And did stepping away from probiotics come at a cost? This week’s Journal Club takes on five papers that push back on standard practice. Ben reviews the SMART-PDA trial and a comparative study of PDA pharmacotherapy, Daphna covers the MIND trial on multisensory maternal interventions and a Pediatrix database study on NEC after the FDA probiotic warning, and Ben rounds out the main segment with a national look at hypothermia in 35-week infants with HIE. Ben and Eli wrap the week with Neo News on rising vitamin K refusal. Support the show As always, feel free to send us questions, comments, or suggestions to our email: nicupodcast@gmail.com. You can also contact the show through Instagram or Twitter, @nicupodcast. Or contact Ben and Daphna directly via their Twitter profiles: @drnicu and @doctordaphnamd. The papers discussed in today's episode are listed and timestamped on the webpage linked below. Enjoy!

    • Transcript
  • S5 · E143
    July 17 · 17 min

    #453 - [Neo News] - 📌 Are You Still Assuming Every Newborn Got Vitamin K?

    Send us Fan Mail Vitamin K refusal has crossed 5%. That's one in twenty babies, and the curve is bending the wrong way. Ben and Eli work through a new Pediatrics case review that opens with a warning shot, that hemorrhagic presentation in an infant should no longer be a diagnostic mystery, alongside a JAMA letter tracking refusal from 2.9% in 2017 to 5.2% in 2024. Eighty-one times the risk. Intracranial hemorrhage in most late-onset cases. Twenty percent mortality. They talk about the halo effect on other refusals, the ICD code you should be using, and why this conversation belongs in the obstetrics office, not the nursery. ---- Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding After Refusal: A Sentinel Event in a Misinformation Era. Jacobs JW, Booth GS, Wheeler AP, Adkins BD.Pediatrics. 2026 May 1;157(5):e2026075994. doi: 10.1542/peds.2026-075994.PMID: 41916583 No abstract available. Trends in Vitamin K Administration Among Infants. Scott K, Miller E, Culhane JF, Greenspan J, Handley SC, Lo JY, Knake LA, McKenney KM, Burris HH, Dysart K.JAMA. 2026 Jan 20;335(3):272-274. doi: 10.1001/jama.2025.21460.PMID: 41359326 Free PMC article. Babies Are Bleeding to Death as Parents Reject a Vitamin Shot Given at Birth https://www.propublica.org/article/more-parents-decline-vitamin-k-shot-newborns Support the show As always, feel free to send us questions, comments, or suggestions to our email: nicupodcast@gmail.com. You can also contact the show through Instagram or Twitter, @nicupodcast. Or contact Ben and Daphna directly via their Twitter profiles: @drnicu and @doctordaphnamd. The papers discussed in today's episode are listed and timestamped on the webpage linked below. Enjoy!

    • Transcript
  • S5 · E142
    July 16 · 17 min

    #453 - [Journal Club] - 📌 What Happened to NEC When Centers Stopped Using Probiotics?

    Send us Fan Mail When the FDA warning landed in late 2023, probiotic use in high-use NICUs collapsed from 86% to under 7% almost overnight. What happened to NEC? This week Daphna brings Tolia and Patel's new Journal of Perinatology analysis of the Pediatrix Clinical Data Warehouse, a natural experiment across 347 NICUs and more than 10,000 extremely preterm infants. Centers that stopped saw NEC climb from 2.7% to 4.4%. Centers that never used probiotics saw nothing change. Ben and Daphna work through the difference-in-differences model, the demographic imbalances, and the uncomfortable question underneath it all. When does data stop and advocacy begin? ---- Probiotics and necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm infants after the food and drug administration warning actions. Tolia VN, Bennett MM, Handler D, Canvasser J, Greenberg RG, Ursprung R, Ahmad KA, Patel RM.J Perinatol. 2026 Jun 2. doi: 10.1038/s41372-026-02712-y. Online ahead of print.PMID: 42225922 Support the show As always, feel free to send us questions, comments, or suggestions to our email: nicupodcast@gmail.com. You can also contact the show through Instagram or Twitter, @nicupodcast. Or contact Ben and Daphna directly via their Twitter profiles: @drnicu and @doctordaphnamd. The papers discussed in today's episode are listed and timestamped on the webpage linked below. Enjoy!

    • Transcript
Showing 81–85 of 85 episodes