Hello everyone! This will be my first article and I will talk all about the basics of NICU.
Let me give you a brief introduction of myself first.
I am Dyan and i'm a nurse. I've been working as a nurse for 5 years and the last three years up until now I've been on NICU. I love what i do and i have the most rewarding job. I can't imagine doing anything else rather than caring for babies.
So let us talk about the basics of NICU. I wanted to write this article for those parents that might expecting a stay in NICU or those parents who just began their NICU stay. As well as healthcare professional that might be interested in NICU or those students who don't know about NICU.
What is NICU?
NICU stands for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. So basically we care for newborn babies.
There are different levels of NICU starting up to level 1 going up to 4.
Level 1 - well-baby nursery
These are for babies who are born full terms and have no issues on their health
Level 2 - special care nursery
These types of nurseries will provide care for babies that are born at 32 weeks in gestation and greater than 1500 grams. There are situations that the baby are born term that just might be breathing fast that need to be observed. Those babies can stay to level 2 special care nursery for up to 24 hours fir that observation and if that time the breathing issues don't resolve then they might need to go to the next level of care.
Level 3 - critical care nursery
This type of NICU that i work in. So we take babies at any age, any weight, babies born at 24 weeks all the way up to 41 or greater. We're able to provide care for those critically ill infants.
Level 4
The highest level. If the care of baby is greter than whst a level 3 NICU can provide, tbey would go to level 4. Level 4 NICU is typically in children's hospitals and those are the NICU that are gonna bale to provide surgical interventions for critically ill infants.
What are the reason why a baby need to go to NICU?
The mkst common reason why a baby goes to NICU is prematurity.
In the hospital that the I work in, any baby less than 35 weeks and less than 2000 grams is automayically going to NICU. And this is for a couple of reasons. The biggest reasons are:
Temperature instability
Any baby eho is born less than 35 weeks will be having a hard time maintaing their body temperature
Feeding
Those babies who are not going to come out being able to feed in bottle or breast-feed well enough to keep up the calories requirements.
Respiratiry problem
Typically this is the biggest reason for NICU admissions both in premature infants as well as in full term babies.
Baby is sick
Babies born with illness or infection.
Jaundice
We see this bith on preterm and full term babies. Mostnall premature are treated of jaundice because they are at even higher risk than term babies. But a lot of term babies have to be treated as well.
Those are the few common reason why baby need to go to NICU and there are more several others.
That is it for today. Tomorrow I'm gonna talk about the basic equipments used in NICU. Hope that you've learned something new from me.
Good day everyone!