Ep 88 The Tiny Fighter: What ER Got Right (and Wrong) About the NICU

This week, we're leaving the ER and heading upstairs — to the NICU. We're joined by Tara’s sister Kristin, doctorally prepared neonatal nurse practitioner, to break down ER Season 10, Episode 12 and Grey's Anatomy's NICU storylines, then get into the real clinical science behind what those shows depict. We cover congenital heart disease and coarctation of the aorta, extreme prematurity, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and therapeutic hypothermia, and what it actually looks like when a family decides to let go. The cocktail is The Tiny Fighter — gin, lemon, simple syrup, and bitters. Small but mighty, just like the patients.

Sources

• ER S10E12 "NICU" — Apple TV
• Grey's Anatomy NICU — Grey's Anatomy Universe Wiki
• Congenital Heart Disease — CDC
• Critical CHD Newborn Screening — CDC
• Coarctation of the Aorta — American Heart Association
• Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy — PMC Review 2024
• Premature Birth — March of Dimes
• CHD Epidemiology 1990–2021 — Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine
• HIE Outcomes — BONBID Dataset, Harvard/Boston Children's
• NICU Ethics and Withdrawal of Care — Asian Bioethics Review
• Current Practice Management Guidelines in Neonates and Infants with Isolated Coarctation of the Aorta — Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia