Threats to neonatologists' professional identity formation: ethical implications of condensing neonatal-perinatal...

The American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) recently announced a plan to alter pediatric subspecialty fellowship training. Such changes pose meaningful ethical and psychosocial consequences on neonatologists' professional identity formation (PIF), including how they develop moral reasoning, experience and manage distress, and sustain themselves in practice. In the current state, the ABP's plan poses serious ethical risks, compromising not only the foundations of future neonatologists but also our mission to provide high-quality patient care. In this paper, we argue that it is an ethical imperative for Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine (NPM) fellowship programs to nurture the evolving professional identities of learners who will guide future innovation and progress in the field, while providing education that supports ethical, family-centered, high-quality clinical care for the most vulnerable patients.