During the clinical training within the affiliated NICUs, fellows develop a fund of knowledge and acquire technical skills. Each hospital NICU experience contributes a distinctive component to the important clinical phase of fellowship training. The ethical dilemmas of neonatal intensive care form an integral part of the clinical experience, and fellows learn to assist families through the bereavement process.

As consultants, fellows provide input on the management of neonatal surgical patients, antepartum obstetrical patients, and other hospitalized non-intensive care newborn infants. Fellows also conduct telephone consultations with pediatricians in the community and at referring hospitals.

In addition to critical care activities, fellows become familiar with the physical and developmental issues of high-risk infants by participating in the Infant Follow-Up Program. Excellent clinical care depends upon a broad knowledge base of the underlying basic sciences and relevant clinical literature. Core lectures that address clinical and basic science topics are offered weekly, and regular program clinical conferences contribute to a broad based fund of knowledge in contemporary newborn medicine.