Doctor Has ‘Undying Dedication’ to Critically Ill Babies
from Children's Magazine, Spring 2006
John Kinsella, MD.
John Kinsella, MD, gets anxious just talking about some of the critically ill newborns he has cared for over the years. He acknowledges that he was aware of the high stress level that would come with his career in neonatology, but he also knew the rewards.
“It’s the butterfly effect phenomenon,” Dr. Kinsella said. “The effect of what you do in the first days of life has an effect on a lifetime, the family and everyone else. It’s a very rewarding thing.”
His various roles exemplify how he has devoted his time and talents to caring for the smallest patients: He is an attending neonatologist in The Children’s Hospital’s Newborn Center, which includes the Newborn Intensive Care Unit and Infant Care Center; medical director of the Newborn Young Child Transport Team; Professor of Pediatrics in the Departments of Neonatology and Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine; and a pioneering researcher.
“I don’t know anybody who is so willing to give of themselves and their time,” said Jan Paisley, MD, who works with Dr. Kinsella in the Newborn Center. “He never has a night off when there’s a sick baby in the unit. He’s available 24/7.”
As medical director of the Newborn Young Child (NYC) Team, the portion of Flight For Life that is housed at The Children’s Hospital, Dr. Kinsella oversees the team’s medical management and interventions, monitors the credentials of the clinical team and directs monthly case reviews for educational purposes. He occasionally goes out on calls with the team during extreme emergencies.
“He’s brilliant; I have all the confidence in him,” said Janet Morelli, registered respiratory therapist with the NYC Team.
In addition, Dr. Kinsella has been involved in a number of research studies involving the use of nitric oxide in premature and full-term infants. In 1992, Dr. Kinsella, Steve Abman, MD, and colleagues began a multi-centered randomized trial of inhaled nitric oxide and high-frequency oscillatory ventilation for the treatment of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN). Until then, PPHN often resulted in high mortality and morbidity rates through use of a surgical method of heart-lung bypass therapy called extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). At that time, the Newborn Center at Children’s had nearly 30 infants requiring ECMO. But once the hospital began treating PPHN with nitric oxide, the need to put babies on ECMO significantly decreased. Dr. Kinsella also has been involved in research studies to determine whether a low dose of nitric oxide used early in premature babies who require mechanical ventilation could reduce the risk of chronic lung disease.
“He has an undying dedication to the critically ill infant,” said Lynn Cavaliero, RN, MS, clinical director of Children’s Newborn Center, Transport and Neonatal Programs. “He will not leave their bedside at any cost, until he has tried absolutely everything he can to help them survive.”
Dr. Kinsella said, “Babies have an incredible potential for recovery. The newborn really has a remarkable capacity to get better. Babies who are profoundly ill the first week of life are normal toddlers. It doesn’t always happen, but one of the rewards of the near-term and term baby is that if they can get through that first really sick period, they can be perfectly normal babies.”
