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Neonatology
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Saint Barnabas Medical
Center is a regional referral neonatal center providing the most
sophisticated newborn care to all sick babies and premature infants
in the state of New Jersey. In addition to providing care to almost
7,000 babies born at our own perinatal center, we also provide
High Risk Infant Neonatal Transport Service 24 hours around the
clock to a minimum of 10 hospitals in our region. Many sick babies
delivered at hospitals without NICU’s are transported to
our center to receive more advanced care and are later transported
back to the hospital of origin for continuing care.
There are eight full-time neonatologists (newborn specialists)
available during the day and at least two newborn specialists available
at night, working very closely with more than 100 specially trained
NICU nurses to deliver expert service at delivery rooms and at
the NICU bedside.
Of the almost 7,000 babies born at Saint Barnabas last year, 1,400
were treated in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Our commitment
to teamwork is responsible for the outstanding survival rate of
very low birth weight infants over the past six years. The following
is the gestational age specific survival rate of infants born at
23 to 32 weeks gestation at Saint Barnabas Medical Center. Note
that the survival rate of infants born at the limit of viability
(23 weeks) is consistently over 50 percent, which is considered
extraordinary.
Survival Rate of VLBW Infants at SBMC
by Gestational Age at Birth
1995 -2000
GA (wk) |
n |
Survived |
Rate (%) |
23 |
54 |
28 |
52 |
24 |
82 |
61 |
74 |
25 |
72 |
65 |
90 |
26 |
95 |
88 |
93 |
27 |
102 |
95 |
93 |
28 |
106 |
99 |
93 |
29 |
150 |
144 |
96 |
30 |
145 |
144 |
99 |
31 |
209 |
209 |
100 |
32 |
305 |
304 |
100 |
Our NICU is a member of the Vermont Oxford Network (VON), which
is an organization of more than 350 NICUs in the United States
and abroad. Each month every member hospital reports its mortality
and morbidity data (60 items) for each patient to the central office
of the Network. In return, the office sends to each individual
hospital a detailed quarterly report comparing the performance
of each individual hospital against 350 NICUs. Today the member
hospitals have a benchmark of data to compare and each NICU strives
to be the best performer among the network hospitals. Over the
past five years our performance ranking has remained consistently
high in comparison to the other network hospitals.
In addition to being an active member of VON, we have participated
in the National-Evidence-Based Quality Improvement Collaborative
for Neonatology since 1999. This Collaborative consists of an elite
group of 34 VON member hospitals that work closely together to
develop potential improved practices using an evidence-based approach.
For the past three years, this collaboration has helped us improve
quality of care and quality of survivals.
We are most proud of our superior quality of care which is directly
responsible for the excellent survival rate of babies cared for
in our NICU (see "Survival Rate of VLBW Infants" table).
We have a special service called High Risk Infant Follow Up Program.
This program is indispensable in that it monitors some of the extremely
low birth weight infants who may experience delayed mental and
physical development.
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High Risk Infant Follow Up Program
This Center is focused on aiding in the ongoing assessment of
the high-risk infant. The purpose of the high-risk infant follow-up
program is to detect developmental delays and abnormalities at
the earliest possible time. The professional team of developmental
experts includes neonatologists, occupational and physical therapists,
a developmental psychologist, a social worker, and a pediatric
clinical coordinator. These members of the health care team work
in conjunction with other pediatric subspecialists and the primary
care physician to provide the very best possible care for the high-risk
infant.
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Infant Apnea Center At Saint Barnabas
Many premature infants may develop apneas (temporary cessation
of breathing) in the first few weeks or months of their lives.
To help these infants, we have an Infant Apnea Center at Saint
Barnabas. The center provides apnea evaluation, monitoring, treatment
and follow-up for the infants at the hospital and after being discharged
from the hospital with apnea monitors. Apnea monitors are prescribed
by a doctor and are utilized in certain cases when the baby is
at risk for cessation of breathing or having a low heart rate at
home. Our team includes neonatologists and a nurse coordinator,
all with specialized training and experience in the evaluation
and treatment of infants on apnea monitors.
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