Learn what to expect if your baby is admitted to the Newborn/Infant Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). www.chop.edu/centers-programs...
Having a baby admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit can be a stressful and overwhelming experience. The goal of this video is to help you and your family understand what to expect when your baby is admitted to the Harriet and Ronald Lassin Newborn/Infant Intensive Care Unit (N/IICU) at CHOP, and to reassure you that your precious baby is being cared for by the best, most experienced team.
The N/IICU at our Philadelphia Campus is a state-of-the-art, 100-bed facility dedicated to providing highly specialized care for newborns and infants. It is a Level IV NICU. This means that we are able to provide the highest level of medical care for newborns and infants.
As one of the top-ranked units in the nation, we use cutting-edge technology to provide the best care possible for very sick babies with health issues related to prematurity, birth defects, lung, heart and gastrointestinal conditions, and other disorders. We have cared for babies as young as 23 weeks gestation and as small as one pound at birth.
Families travel from around the country and the world seeking care for hyperinsulinism, severe lung disease and other conditions. We are a center of excellence for the management of infants with severe chronic lung disease (also called bronchopulmonary dysplasia), and we have special expertise in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
For more than 50 years, we've cared for babies with all types of conditions and congenital malformations. We care for more than 1,200 patients every year. This experience has prepared our team for any and every medical condition present in newborns and infants.
Our unit is one of the biggest and best in the world. Your baby’s N/IICU team includes a senior neonatologist, a nurse practitioner or physician assistant, residents and fellows, specially trained nurses, a nurse case manager, dieticians, pharmacists, and respiratory therapists.
We have a staff of more than 500 neonatal nurses. This often allows us to assign a dedicated nurse to oversee your baby’s care. At most, one nurse may be assigned to oversee the care of two babies. This allows us to maintain the close-knit feel of a small N/IICU.
In addition to our core team of care providers, other team members include physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, child life specialists, social workers, chaplains, music therapists and psychologists, as well as incredibly knowledgeable doctors in every pediatric specialty.
We take a personalized approach to care that’s guided by evidence-based knowledge our team has gained over many years of experience. Highly specialized medical equipment and monitoring devices help our team better understand your baby’s needs.
We work hard to make our N/IICU a comfortable place where babies can heal and parents can feel at ease and empowered. We make sure you and your family understand the medical devices your baby needs and why they need them, and we encourage parents to participate in decisions and discussions around their baby’s care.
There are comfortable chairs next to every bedside, as well as a kitchen and some private sleep rooms and showers available for all N/IICU families. A camera called an “Angel Eye” is attached to your baby’s bed so you and your family can see them remotely. Our N/IICU has bedside pumps, private pumping rooms and lactation consultants. We also have a state-of-the-art human milk management center, where a whole team works to make sure your baby gets the nutrition they need to grow and heal.
We encourage family bonding and will guide you and your family on how to be close to your baby. We support skin to skin contact and reading out loud to your baby. We also encourage you to personalize your baby’s room with decorations, photos from home, sibling artwork, and things that make you and your family feel comfortable and relaxed.
Child life specialists can talk to siblings about the medical equipment they may see and answer any questions they have. We also offer opportunities for N/IICU families to connect with each other through activities like peer support groups and therapeutic crafting classes.
Our entire team is here to support you and your family every step of the way. We encourage you to ask questions, communicate with our team and make use of all the services we offer.
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia also now has a second Newborn/Infant Intensive Care Unit (N/IICU) located within our inpatient location in King of Prussia, Pa. This unit provides level 3 care for seriously ill newborns, including access to surgical subspecialties and expands access to CHOP for critical patients in the greater Philadelphia area.
8 июн 2024
