What is the NICU?
With equipment designed for infants and a hospital staff who have special training in newborn care, the NICU is an intensive care unit created for sick newborns who need specialized treatment because they’re still developing rapidly. Sometimes the NICU is also called: • a special care nursery • an intensive care nursery • newborn intensive care Babies may be sent to the NICU if: • they’re born prematurely • difficulties occur during their deliveries • they show signs of a problem in the first few days of life Only very young babies (or babies with a condition linked to being born prematurely) are treated in the NICU – they’re usually infants who haven’t gone home from the hospital yet after being born. How long these infants remain in the unit depends on the severity of their illness. For more information, please call The Woman’s Hospital of Texas at 713-790-1234. For physician referral, call 281-GET-HELP.
At Elliot, N-I-C-U or “NICU” stands for Newborn Intensive Care Unit. At other facilities, NICU stands for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Which means the same thing. Elliots NICU is Southern New Hampshires only Level III Newborn Intensive Care Unit, is only one of three in New Hampshire, and a participant in the Vermont Oxford Network. At Elliots NICU, we care for the most critically ill infants, including those on ventilators, ranging from 23 weeks gestational age (or week of pregnancy) and up, and as small as 15 ounces.
Unlike a hospital nursery, which is usually a collection of small plastic bassinets filled with snugly sleeping babies, a NICU is filled with rows of babies in incubators or isolettes, which look like large clear plastic containers. “The thing that surprises parents most is the amount of medical equipment in the area — respirators, warming tables, IVs, blood-pressure monitors,” says Fumagalli. “It can be overwhelming.” Some or all of the equipment will be used for your baby, depending upon his needs. Regardless of how much equipment surrounds him, “you can still play a very active role in being a parent, which is important for parent-infant bonding,” says Fumagalli.
With equipment designed for infants and a hospital staff who have special training in newborn care, the NICU is an intensive care unit created for sick newborns who need specialized treatment because they’re still developing rapidly. Sometimes the NICU is also called: • a special care nursery • an intensive care nursery • newborn intensive care Babies may be sent to the NICU if: • they’re born prematurely • difficulties occur during their deliveries • they show signs of a problem in the first few days of life Only very young babies (or babies with a condition linked to being born prematurely) are treated in the NICU – they’re usually infants who haven’t gone home from the hospital yet after being born. How long these infants remain in the unit depends on the severity of their illness. Although not all babies in the NICU have the same illness or condition, there are some diagnoses that are common to newborns who need intensive care. Here’s a brief look at what these conditions are, what
