Getting to know Children's: The NICU

The NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) is a Level IV 48-bed unit that cares for acute and chronic patients from birth to 2 years of age. We are the only ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) center in the state of Alabama. We house 4 ECMO surgical suites and have been awarded a Center for Excellence for multiple years in a row.  We also care for infants on continuous dialysis therapy -Aquadex- the only hospital in the Southeast to offer this program as well as 1 of only 3 in the country. All rooms are private allowing parents to stay overnight if desired.  Our patients are referred in from other hospitals for subspecialty care, with diagnoses that include respiratory illnesses, abdominal wall defects, neural tube defects, renal tube defects, congenital anomalies and many other illnesses. These infants frequently require management of mechanical ventilation, multiple intravenous fluid and drug administration, monitoring of cardiovascular status and support of family.  All RN staff are skilled and trained to assess and care for infants with complex, multisystem dysfunctions. The nurse to patient ratio is usually 2:1, although occasionally depending on the acuity of the patient the ratio may be 1:1. The team uses a multidisciplinary approach in caring for infants involving nursing, physicians, respiratory, nutritionist, pharmacy, physical and occupational therapy, lactation specialist, child life, social workers and pastoral care.