SUMMARY
William A. Carey, M.D., conducts large retrospective cohort studies to characterize many aspects of neonatal intensive care, including resource utilization and patient-important clinical outcomes.
Neonates may require care in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) for a variety of reasons. Whether born prematurely or with acquired or congenital diseases, these patients need complex care processes and are at risk of long-term complications.
Focus areas
Health-services research helps propel the understanding of how health technologies, provider practices and social factors impact patients' clinical outcomes.
- Hypoxic respiratory failure. Dr. Carey and his collaborators describe how neonatologists prescribe pulmonary vasodilators in NICUs and characterize the effects of these medications.
- Community-born neonates. Dr. Carey and his collaborators assess whether and how outcomes differ between neonates born in regional centers and those born in community-level hospitals.
- Critical in-hospital outcomes. Dr. Carey and his collaborators determine the rates of various disease states among different neonatal subpopulations, and characterize the impact of those conditions on other patient-important outcomes.
Significance to patient care
Every year in the United States nearly 40,000 babies require admission to a neonatal intensive care unit. Because of the barriers to conducting clinical trials in the neonatal population, large-scale cohort studies are a critical resource for understanding how to provide safe, effective care to hospitalized neonates. The results of these studies influence clinical practice guidelines developed by international professional societies.
Professional highlights
- Recipient, Distinguished Junior Investigator Research Career Development Award, Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Mayo Clinic, 2012
- Recipient, Loan Repayment Program Award, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, 2003-2007