Neonatal Intensive Care

West Penn's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is the second largest level III NICU in Pittsburgh, admitting approximately 500 infants annually. The NICU is a major regional referral center both for critically ill infants and provides prenatal consultations for high-risk obstetrics patients. Approximately 200 infants are transported to West Penn's NICU from other regional hospitals each year.

The NICU is a 40-bed unit providing the highest level of medical and surgical care available to neonates. The distinctive design of West Penn's NICU features six pods, each of which houses six infant isolettes. In addition, the unit contains an isolation pod with four isolettes to care for babies with infections. The pod design, complimented by indirect lighting to control light, creates as much as possible an environment to promote the healing and growing process. Overall, the unit is designed to allow the most individualized approach to care and treatment possible.

The staff of the NICU includes highly trained and skilled registered nurses, neonatal nurse practitioners, and neonatal respiratory therapists, and a physician staff of board-certified neonatologists. In addition, specialists in pediatric cardiology, neurology, endocrinology, neurosurgery, orthopaedics and surgery are available for consultation and evaluation. The staff of the NICU prides itself on providing compassionate, family-centered care, as well as implementing state-of-the-art technology and treatment.

Family members, including both parents and siblings, are urged to visit the babies at any time during the day or night and participate in their care. Mothers are welcome to breastfeed their babies when possible, and the staff advocates soothing skin-to-skin contact between premature babies and their parents to promote healing, growth and bonding. Furthermore, family members are encouraged to call the unit for updates on their baby's condition as often as they wish.

High-risk obstetric patients who are referred to West Penn receive a prenatal consultation from a neonatologist in the NICU to discuss their infant's prognosis and the care that will be provided in the NICU. The goal of the consultation is to orient prospective parents to the environment of the NICU and to prepare them as much as possible for the experience.

West Penn also offers a Neonatal Developmental Follow-up Program. In the program, a team consisting of an infant developmental specialist, a neonatologist, a physical therapist and a social worker assesses the development of NICU graduates and offers support to their families for up to two years.

Every five years, the staff of the NICU hosts a reunion for all patients and families it has served. Click here for information on the 2008 NICU Reunion.

For more information about West Penn's NICU, please call 412-578-5306.