Author Archives: Keith Barrington

Unknown's avatar

About Keith Barrington

I am a neonatologist and clinical researcher at Sainte Justine University Health Center in Montréal

Breast is Best; is Fresher Better?

A recurrent problem in the NICU is “bandwagon-jumping”. An intervention with some preliminary positive data, and a possible physiologic rationale is widely adopted and made part of QI bundles with little or no reliable evidence that it is either effective … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Neurodevelopmental Impairment, who decides what it is?

I have written frequently about my concerns with “NDI” as an important measure of neonatal outcomes, indeed, it seems to be often thought of as if it were the only important measure. It has very often been included as part … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | 1 Comment

Not neonatology: trip to Panama

Just back from a week in Panama, organised by “Wings“, mostly in Darién province at the extreme east of the country. A really amazing experience, with over 300 bird species seen, including just over 200 “lifers” for me. On my … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | Leave a comment

Term and Near-Term babies at Risk of Early Onset Sepsis: Best Practice?

Sepsis caused by organisms transmitted during, or shortly before, labour is relatively uncommon in higher income countries with GBS screening programs; the incidence is now around 0.3 cases per 1000 live births, but varies, it may be as high as … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | 1 Comment

Surfactant plus Budesonide? Not a PLUSS for outcomes

Many of us were already aware of the general direction of the results of this trial, a multi-centre RCT of surfactant with or without budesonide (Manley BJ, et al. Intratracheal Budesonide Mixed With Surfactant for Extremely Preterm Infants. JAMA. 2024), … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

What Sick Babies Can Teach Us

As usual for a TED talk this is 18 minutes long, and, in that brief time, Annie recounts her trajectory: learning from families of kids with trisomy 13 and trisomy 18; our own experience with counselling for threatened extreme preterm … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Surgery for NEC; enterostomy or anastomosis?

There are only a few randomized trials in neonatal surgery, but those that exist have had a major impact. This new publication may do the same, even though the sample size is relatively modest, and there are some issues with … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The nicuverse and 99NICU

As some of you may have noticed, I left Twitter (X), apart from sending a link to each new post on this blog. I never any longer visit the website and I have deleted the App on my phone. A … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | 1 Comment

Making Clinical Research Oversight Fit-for-Purpose

The title is a slightly edited copy of the title a discussion article in JAMA, that discusses some important issues in IRB oversight of clinical research. (Kass NE, et al. Making the Ethical Oversight of All Clinical Trials Fit for … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Badly performed, badly presented, unethical published research; what to do?

Since at least 2013 the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki has mandated registration of clinical trials prior to enrolment of the first subject. Since 2005 the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors has required trial registration as a condition … Continue reading

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments