While preparing for labor and delivery, find out about your hospital's NICU offerings and level of accreditation.
No mother wants to think about her newborn needing intensive care immediately after birth. Unfortunately, some newborns do experience complications at birth and every mother should consider what medical care is available for her child. Here are some tips to keep in mind about Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) and their levels of accreditation.
A NICU offers infants immediate and specialized neonatal care immediately after birth. Those typically cared for in the NICU include:
- Premature infants
- Infants who experience complications during birth
- Infants who show symptoms of any illness or disability immediately after birth
A NICU has various levels of accreditation to represent the level of care available at that hospital. NICU levels of accreditation range from Level I to Level IIIC. Level I offers the most basic newborn care, while Level IIIC units offer the most acute care available.
The NICU at Las Colinas Medical Center is a Level IIb unit. This means that we can:
- Care for babies born at more than 32 weeks' gestation
- Care for babies with certain physiological immaturities that may affect issues related to feeding, temperature control or breathing
- Care for babies born with a moderate illness that is expected to improve
- Provide breathing assistance using mechanical ventilation for short periods of time (less than 24 hours)
- Provide breathing assistance using continuous positive airway pressure
Are you expecting? We encourage you to come visit our Women's Services floor! During a hospital tour, you will learn that all of our labor, delivery and postpartum rooms are private. We also have an 18-bed newborn/intermediate care nursery. And, as we mentioned earlier, our NICU offers newborns level IIb care. Find out about the childbirth and education classes we offer here. For a physician referral, please contact us here.
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