The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
When a premature infant enters the world at one of our hospitals, he or she immediately receives medical care by an attending neonatologist in the delivery room and later in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
At our facilities, there are neonatologists in-house at all times, ready to deliver the best possible medical care for your newborn child. Patients in the NICU require 1:1 or 1:2 nursing care. Promoting family centered care is a top priority. As a result, the survival rate of the smallest and sickest babies is high and the morbidity rate is low compared to national and international data.
There are many reasons why a child may need NICU care. They may have been diagnosed with any of the following medical conditions requiring an advanced level of monitoring and or intervention:
- Prematurity
- Respiratory distress
- Transient Tachypnea of the newborn
- Anoxic brain injury
- Complications associated with meconium aspiration
- Persistent pulmonary hypertension
- Hyperbilirubinemia
- Infectious processes
- Neural tube defects
- Congenital anomalies
Under the direction of dual board-certified neonatologists and staffed by specialized neonatal intensive care nurses, our NICU teams work together to meet the common goal of providing safe, quality care. Specialists in other pediatric subspecialties are available for prompt consultation and care, as are physical therapists, social workers, respiratory therapists, and pharmacists. Parents are encouraged to participate in their baby's care.
During your child’s time in the NICU at any of our New Jersey hospitals, a team of social workers will meet with each NICU family and offer a variety of family-centered programming, including a NICU Support Group. Following discharge, high-risk NICU babies are seen on an outpatient basis by the neonatologists in the High-Risk Infant Follow-Up Program. A developmental psychologist is also on staff for follow-up of overall developmental status.