The market preparations before market launch of Neola® continues and Clinical Manager MD Ph.D. Tetiana Kovtiukh recently visited Gothenburg. During this visit she took part in the work at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, a lecture by Chiesi, as well as a conference for perinotology, “Vårmöte för perinatologi”, to take part in the latest research in the field. The conference consisted of both seminars about preterm birth and long-term follow-up of patients and the opportunity to connect with doctors and researchers within the area. We have done a shorter interview with her to get to know more about her visit to Gothenburg.
Clinical Manager, MD Ph.D. Tetiana Kovtiukh has an important role in this work by building the company’s clinical network, where she visits both national and international conferences, but also neonatal intensive care units to create connections. Building the clinical network of key opinion leaders is an important part of the company’s market preparations before the launch of Neola®. Recently, our Clinical Manager visited Gothenburg where she took part in the work at the NICU at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, a lecture about lung function by Chiesi, as well as a conference for perinatal research, where she had the opportunity to meet both doctors and researchers as well as take part in seminars about the latest research. We have done an interview to summarize her visit.
How did you get in contact with Sahlgrenska University Hospital?
It was Dr. Pontus Johansson, one of our Medical Advisors, that connected me with Svetlana Najem who is the head of the neonatal clinic at Sahlgrenska Univeristy Hospital. Once I got to the clinic, I got introduced to the neonatologists Anders Flisberg, Thommy Svahn and Daniela Todorova. I got to spend time with them to understand how they work and which methods they use when taking care of the preterm born babies.
Could you tell me a bit more about the NICU at the hospital?
My overall impression is that it is a very good neonatal clinic at the hospital, and at the NICU they take care of also the extremely preterm born infants, sometimes weighing even under 1 kg. At the NICU, all the wards had beds for parents so that they could stay together with their baby. Also, the wards had all the needed equipment, compatible with both breastfeeding and kangaroo care. The NICU was located close to the delivery department, making it good for ensuring a stable transport of the extremely sick or preterm born babies. It consisted of in total around 10-12 rooms, where it was both rooms for intensive care and rooms for the more stable babies in good conditions. In these wards, the mother can stay and take care of the baby, with support from the neonatologists.
I noticed that the neonatologists have a lot of duties, as their care for the baby does not stop at the NICU. The parents are prepared to stay at home with the babies while at the NICU, but also get support from the hospital up until the child is 6 years old. For instance, in case of any disabilities or the diagnosis of complications and preventive actions. Even though it is a lot of varieties in the work for the neonatologists, it is very good that they take the time to do this, as they are the doctors with the best knowledge of the preterm born baby’s needs.
Could you also tell me a bit more about the conference (”Vårmöte i perinatologi”) that you visited?
Vårmötet i perinatologi is arranged by Sahlgrenska University Hospital and Regionhälsan with support from SFOG, Svenska Neonatalföreningen, Svenska Barnmorskeförbundet, Riksföreningen för Barnsjuksköterskor and Vårdförbundet. It was very well organized with a great schedule filled with various activities. It was time for visiting the exhibiting companies, mingle with professors and researchers and exchanging both knowledge and ideas. I also got to make new connections with neonatologists from all over Sweden. Overall, it was an interesting conference with lectures about both neonatology and obstetrics from a scientific point of view. I really enjoyed that the conference involved both more formal lectures during the day and possibilities for more informal mingling during the evening activities.
Was there anything special you take with you from the lectures at the conference?
I am impressed of the wide variety of lectures during the conference. They covered all the problems related to preterm birth, both for the neonate and the mother. It was also stories from other parts of the world, for instance where neonatologists who have traveled to African countries told about their work to improve how neonatologists work with preterm birth and the related problems.
How would you summarize your visit to Gothenburg?
To summarize, it was an intensive week in Gothenburg with a lot of new knowledge and interesting connections. I began with a few days at the neonatal clinic at Sahlgrenska University Hospital where I got a deeper understanding of the neonatologists’ work, then I visited a lecture with Chiesi about lung function and last the conference with a lot of new insights. Overall, a very good week in Gothenburg.
Read more about previous visit at the NICU in Würzburg, Germany.