The Incubator

Latest Episodes:

#352 - [Journal Club Shorts] - 📌 Should We Transfuse Cord Blood PRBCs Instead of Adult PRBCs to Prevent Severe ROP? Sep 14, 2025

Show notes

Send us Fan Mail

Cord red blood cell transfusions for severe retinopathy in preterm neonates in Italy: a multicenter randomized controlled trial. Teofili L, Papacci P, Pellegrino C, Dani C, Cresi F, Remaschi G, Ansaldi G, Giannantonio C, Campagnoli MF, Vania B, Fabbri M, de Vera d' Aragona RP, Molisso A, Beccastrini E, Dragonetti A, Pasciuto T, Gabbriellini S, Baroni S, Serrao F, Purcaro V, Raffaeli G, Villa S, Prati D, Mondello I, Falcone A, Patti ML, Boggini T, Bergamaschi P, Lepore D, Franco FGS, Orazi L, Mozzetta I, Baldascino A, Valentini CG, Locatelli E, Albiani R, Besso FG, Cantone GV, Coscia A, Trimarchi A, Cavallaro G, Ghirardello S, Vento G.EClinicalMedicine. 2025 Aug 13;87:103426. doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2025.103426. eCollection 2025 Sep.PMID: 40838199

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!

#352 - [Journal Club Shorts] - 📌 EBNEO Commentary on Norepinephrine vs Dopamine in septic shock Sep 14, 2025

Show notes

Send us Fan Mail

Dopamine versus epinephrine for neonatal septic shock: an open labeled, randomized controlled trial. Singh G, Bhaskar V, Batra P, Gupta P.J Perinatol. 2025 Aug 28. doi: 10.1038/s41372-025-02399-7. Online ahead of print.PMID: 40877444

EBNEO Commentary: Review of the 'Norepinephrine Versus Dopamine for Septic Shock in Neonates: A Randomised Controlled Trial'. Altit G.Acta Paediatr. 2025 Jul 23. doi: 10.1111/apa.70241. Online ahead of print.PMID: 40698742 No abstract available.

Support the show

Enjoy!

#350 - What Happened to You? Dena Hubbard on Curiosity, Compassion, and Changing Neonatology Sep 07, 2025

Show notes

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode of The Incubator Podcast, Ben and Daphna sit down with Dr. Dena Hubbard, neonatologist and Director of Quality at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital’s NICU. Dr. Hubbard is widely recognized for her leadership in trauma-informed care, physician well-being, and advocacy work within the American Academy of Pediatrics.
She shares her journey from private practice to becoming a national voice for trauma-informed approaches in neonatal care. Dr. Hubbard explains how an early encounter with a NICU family transformed her understanding of parental stress, judgment, and resilience—and how that moment shaped her mission to change the way care is delivered. She outlines the principles of trauma-informed care and how these practices differ from traditional family-centered models, emphasizing curiosity over judgment and building trust across the care team.
The conversation also explores physician wellness. Dr. Hubbard speaks candidly about burnout, the role of coaching and therapy, and how she redefined her professional path after personal challenges, including grief and illness. Her perspective offers both practical insights for the bedside and a message of hope for healthcare providers navigating stress and systemic pressures.
This episode highlights the importance of culture change in NICUs and the value of caring for both families and providers.

Support the show

Enjoy!

#349 - 🚀 NeoCarePal – The NICU’s New Digital Swiss Army Knife Sep 03, 2025

Show notes

Send us Fan Mail

In this Tech Tuesday episode, Ben speaks with Jason Beyer, Business Unit Leader for the Care Franchise at Chiesi USA, about the development of NeoCarePal, a free mobile app designed to simplify daily workflows in the NICU.

NeoCarePal brings together a curated collection of the most commonly used neonatal calculators and formulas in one easy-to-use platform. Instead of searching across multiple sources, clinicians can access tools for glucose infusion rates, oxygenation index, gestational and corrected age, umbilical catheter positioning, endotracheal tube depth, Sarnat scoring, bilirubin management based on the 2022 guidelines, and early onset sepsis risk — all validated and referenced directly in the app.

Jason explains how Chiesi moved beyond therapeutics to address unmet needs by listening to clinicians, running focus groups, and designing a solution that reduces frustration at the bedside. The conversation also covers the importance of user experience, ongoing updates based on feedback, and why providing NeoCarePal free of charge was central to its mission.

This episode highlights how industry and clinicians can collaborate to create practical, accessible tools that make neonatal care more efficient and reliable.

Support the show

Enjoy!

#348 - 🚀 CPAP with Purpose: Supporting Babies in the Delivery Room and the NICU (Part 3) Sep 02, 2025

Show notes

Send us Fan Mail

In this Tech Tuesday episode, Ben speaks with Laurence Gulliver, General Manager for Humidification at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare. With nearly two decades at the company and a background in mechanical engineering and product development, Laurence has helped guide innovations that have shaped respiratory support for neonatal, pediatric, and adult patients worldwide.

The conversation explores the role of humidification in neonatal respiratory care and why it is often overlooked despite its impact on mucociliary function, secretion management, bronchoconstriction, and thermoregulation. Laurence explains the engineering challenges of delivering consistent humidity through ventilator circuits, the burden of condensation management, and how newer platforms like the F&P 950 are designed to improve performance and usability.

They also discuss Fisher & Paykel’s approach to product development, which relies heavily on feedback from caregivers to ensure technology addresses real-world challenges. The episode closes with a broader look at CPAP therapy, opportunities for further innovation in a seemingly simple modality, and the global vision that drives Fisher & Paykel to design solutions adaptable to diverse healthcare settings.

This conversation highlights how thoughtful engineering and collaboration with caregivers translate into meaningful improvements in neonatal outcomes.

Support the show

Enjoy!

#347 -CPAP with Purpose: Supporting Babies in the Delivery Room and the NICU (Part 2) Sep 01, 2025

Show notes

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode of The Incubator Podcast, Dr. Guilherme Sant’Anna, Professor of Pediatrics at McGill University, joins Ben and Daphna to discuss his team’s work on implementing an early bubble CPAP protocol in the delivery room. Although CPAP has long been considered standard practice for preterm infants, Dr. Sant’Anna explains why intubation rates remain high in the most immature babies and how his group sought to change this pattern.

The conversation reviews the background of the protocol, which began at McGill in 2014, and the cultural shift required to adopt bubble CPAP as the default approach. Dr. Sant’Anna describes the importance of multidisciplinary training, technical details such as proper prong sizing, fixation, humidification, and suctioning, as well as the challenges of sustaining practice change over a decade.

The results of this initiative are striking: lower rates of delivery room intubation, reduced severe BPD, and improvements in outcomes particularly for infants born before 28 weeks. Dr. Sant’Anna also reflects on lessons learned, the global implications of bubble CPAP in resource-limited settings, and the importance of sharing knowledge to improve care everywhere.

This episode highlights how attention to detail, persistence, and team culture can transform neonatal respiratory care.

Support the show

Enjoy!

#346 - CPAP with Purpose: Supporting Babies in the Delivery Room and the NICU (Part 1) Aug 31, 2025

Show notes

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode of The Incubator Podcast, we welcome Dr. Cindy McEvoy, Professor of Pediatrics and Director of Neonatal Research at OHSU, to discuss her work on the use of extended CPAP in preterm infants. CPAP has long been a cornerstone of neonatal care, but how long should stable infants remain on support? Dr. McEvoy shares findings from two randomized controlled trials that explored whether an additional two weeks of CPAP could promote lung growth and improve longer-term outcomes.

We review the physiologic rationale behind extended CPAP, including the role of mechanical stretch in stimulating alveolar and vascular development. Dr. McEvoy explains the stability criteria used to determine eligibility for extended CPAP and how her team measured pulmonary function in neonates. Results from her studies showed significant improvements in lung volume, diffusion capacity, and expiratory flows, with early signals of reduced wheezing at one year of age.

The conversation also touches on feeding tolerance, the practicalities of implementing extended CPAP in the NICU, and the need for larger multicenter studies to confirm these findings. This episode offers an evidence-based look at how a simple extension of an existing therapy might reshape respiratory outcomes for preterm infants.

Support the show

Enjoy!

#344 - Neonatal Nephrology - A Year In Review Aug 24, 2025

Show notes

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode of The Incubator Podcast, we sit down with Dr. David Askenazi, Dr. Heidi Steflik, and Dr. Kimmy Vuong to explore the latest research and practice shifts in neonatal nephrology. The discussion begins with the often-overlooked role of the kidney in the NICU and why kidney health has direct implications for outcomes far beyond discharge.

The group reviews three recent high-impact papers. The first, a secondary analysis of the PENUT trial, examines whether PDA treatment in extremely low gestational age infants influences two-year kidney outcomes, raising questions about long-term renal risks and benefits of medical and surgical interventions. The second paper presents a consensus statement on kidney health monitoring for NICU graduates, offering structured recommendations on risk stratification and follow-up for preterm, critically ill, and cardiac infants. Finally, we highlight a quality improvement initiative that used the “Can You PLOTS” bundle to reduce ventilator days by addressing fluid overload systematically, underscoring the importance of early, proactive kidney-focused care.

This conversation emphasizes kidney disease as a critical factor in neonatal medicine, the growing pathways for neonatal nephrology training, and practical steps teams can take now to better integrate kidney health into NICU care.

Support the show

Enjoy!

#344 - [Neonatal Nephrology Shorts] - 📌 Less Swelling, Fewer Vents Using the CAN-U-P-LOTS Checklist Aug 24, 2025

Show notes

Send us Fan Mail

Reducing NICU ventilator days by preventing fluid overload with the CAN-U-P-LOTS standardized bundle.

Askenazi DJ, Gordon L, Griffin R, Collins M, Black A, Ambalavanan N, Webb T, Mathis M, Short K, Umberger A, Travers C.Pediatr Res. 2025 Jul 11. doi: 10.1038/s41390-025-04078-x. Online ahead of print.PMID: 40646283

Support the show

Enjoy!

#344 - [Neonatal Nephrology Shorts] - 📌 Who’s Following the Kidneys After NICU Discharge? Aug 24, 2025

Show notes

Send us Fan Mail

Kidney Health Monitoring in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Graduates: A Modified Delphi Consensus Statement.

Starr MC, Harer MW, Steflik HJ, Gorga S, Ambalavanan N, Beck TM, Chaudhry PM, Chmielewski JL, Defreitas MJ, Fuhrman DY, Hanna M, Joseph C, Kwiatkowski DM, Krawczeski CD, Liberio BM, Menon S, Mohamed TH, Rumpel JA, Sanderson KR, Schuh MP, Segar JL, Slagle CL, Soranno DE, Vuong KT, Charlton JR, Gist KM, Askenazi DJ, Selewski DT; Neonatal Kidney Health Consensus Workshop.JAMA Netw Open. 2024 Sep 3;7(9):e2435043. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.35043.PMID: 39269711 Free article.

Support the show

Enjoy!

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected