Inside Connecticut Children’s NICUs The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, or NICU, provides care for babies born prematurely or with health challenges. Here’s what to expect if your baby is in our care. A Big Team for Our Littlest Patients Every member of your baby’s core NICU care team has advanced training in newborn care, with all the advanced technology that your baby needs. We work together to coordinate this care – and support you every step of the way. Our team includes: Attending Physicians/Neonatologists: Oversee the team and your baby’s care in the NICU Consulting Pediatric Specialists: Provide expertise in a particular area, like pediatric cardiology Advanced Practice Providers: Perform exams and procedures, diagnose and treat illnesses, and write orders and prescriptions for babies – under the supervision of an attending physician. Learn more about the role nurse practitioners and physician assistants play in the NICU by watching this short video. Registered Nurses: Provide the day-to-day care for newborns and parents and coordinate discharges. Lactation Consultants: Nurses who have specialized breastfeeding training and work with parents to make breastfeeding successful. Respiratory Therapists: Maintain the respiratory equipment at the bedside and observe the infant’s response to interventions. Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapists: Provide rehabilitation services. Dedicated NICU Pharmacists: Fulfill prescriptions for NICU patients and offering medication education to families. Registered Dieticians: Make recommendations on infant nutrition and monitor a baby’s growth Social Workers: Support families with coping strategies and resources and may connect families to community programs or financial assistance resources. As a teaching hospital, your NICU team will also include trainees who are physicians pursuing advanced training in pediatrics or surgical specialties and students from many healthcare disciplines seeking experience in pediatric care. Trainees and students are part of the care team under the direction and supervision of Connecticut Children’s highly trained attending physician specialists. These strong relationships with academic centers keep Connecticut Children’s at the forefront of advanced treatment options, state-of-the-art technologies, and research innovations. They’re also a sign of our outstanding outcomes data and quality of care, which go hand-in-hand with the requirements to be a teaching hospital. Support for the Most Important Person in Your Baby’s Care – You A new baby always needs special care, and babies who begin life in the NICU may have some extra needs. Through all of this, you are the most important person in their care. Everything that takes place in Connecticut Children’s NICU centers around this connection. Our medical rounding is designed to include you. Our family-centered rounds encourage you to be part of every conversation about your baby’s medical condition and plan of care. We encourage you to take an active role in your baby’s care by spending as much time with your baby as possible, getting to know each other through touch and sound. Your baby’s care team will work closely with you so you understand every aspect of your baby’s health journey, and help you become comfortable with the skills you’ll need to transition home, from feeding to safe bathing. We’ll set you up with technology to keep you and your baby connected. This includes the Angel Eyes app, which allows you to see your baby at all times through a live camera, to the Keriton app to stay in touch with lactation consultants when you need advice or encouragement – plus lots of other resources. We provide other support for your family. Our incredible team of clinical social workers are available to advocate for you, connect you with appropriate financial and community resource referrals, and provide emotional support throughout your baby’s health journey. This support begins in our NICU, and continues once you’ve brought your baby home. Care That Continues Beyond the NICU Your baby’s care starts in our NICU, but that’s just the beginning. When it’s time to go home, your care team is with you every step of the way. That includes communicating with your baby’s primary care pediatrician and, if needed, helping you find support for ongoing clinical care needs or community services through Connecticut Children’s Center for Care Coordination. At Connecticut Children’s, our ongoing care services include: Neonatal Neurodevelopmental Follow-up Program Transitional Medical Care Program Retinopathy of Prematurity Follow-up Program Nutrition and Lactation Support Of course, as your baby’s care needs grow and evolve through life, you can rely on Connecticut Children’s pediatric experts to be there for them. As the state’s only health system 100% dedicated to kids, we’re proud to provide more than 30 pediatric specialties to help your child thrive. And with locations throughout Connecticut and Western Massachusetts, including over Video Visit, care is always close to home.
