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It would be nice if all babies came with instructions, especially the medically fragile, little ones who come into the world with their health cards stacked against them. Thankfully, the physicians and support staff of Sinai’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) not only read the book on the care and treatment of low-birth-weight babies, they practically wrote it.
Sinai Hospital offers a 21-bed, Level III+ NICU that consistently ranks among the top 20 percent of care units in the nation. A baby referred to the Sinai NICU will be treated with the highest level and most advanced care available.
“The first time I walked into a NICU, I wondered, how could anyone take care of something so small…so fragile?” says Thomas O’Brien, M.D., medical director of Newborn Services at Sinai. “But these babies have incredible resilience and an incredible will to live. They will always surprise you.”
All NICU staff are specially trained to care for premature, low-weight and other medically compromised infants. Four board-certified neonatologists guide the unit and care for the most complex cases. Neonatal nurses and respiratory therapists are dedicated to the unit around the clock. Parents and grandparents have the security of knowing that they may access the unit 24 hours a day, while general public access is restricted.
Other departments and technological services available at Sinai support the NICU. Ventilators particularly suited to the respiratory needs of infants and the goals of respiratory therapies are used. Physicians from Sinai’s Pediatrics department are available to offer expertise in pediatric cardiology, infectious disease, gastroenterology, neurology, surgery, anesthesia and other relevant specialties.
Sinai’s NICU maintains its status as a leader in the field of neonatology by employing the most effective treatments. For example, recently developed methods in the use of surfactants, a natural or synthetic soapy substance delivered directly into the patient’s lungs to open up the underdeveloped air sacs in these premature infants, have helped to “push the limit of viability lower,” O’Brien says. Babies as young as 23 weeks, who previously may have died from Respiratory Distress Syndrome, are now surviving in the Sinai NICU with fewer complications as a result of this surfactant therapy, O’Brien adds.
O’Brien says the science and technology of neonatology is constantly evolving. To remain at the top, staff and physicians of the Sinai NICU continue to learn the very latest techniques for caring for these special babies. The Sinai NICU was one of the first to join a nationwide consortium of more than 450 neonatal centers—the Vermont-Oxford Neonatal Network—which serves as an information resource and database manager for NICU statistics. It is also a member of the largest physician group practice of maternal/fetal newborn and pediatric subspecialties, the Pediatrix Medical Group, through which physicians and support staff receive additional training and access to research dedicated to the improvement of neonatal medicine.
The Neonatal Transport Program—with a team made up of a specially trained neonatal nurse practitioner, respiratory therapist, paramedic and emergency medical technician—makes sure babies who must travel between health care facilities arrive at their destinations safe and sound. Physicians referring patients to the Sinai NICU automatically receive regular feedback on their patient’s care and a summary report upon discharge.
Even in this high-tech, information-driven area of medicine, the doctors and nurses of Sinai’s NICU keep their humanity. O’Brien says, “We treat every baby as if he or she were our very own.”
For more information about the Sinai NICU or to be referred to a physician specializing in neonatology, call 410-601-WELL (9355).
Related Links:
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Neonatal Transport Program
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