NMMC Women’s Hospital Expands Its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
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Welcoming a new baby into the family is a joyful experience, but when complications arise, it can also be extremely worrisome. Nobody knows that better than the doctors and nurses at North Mississippi Medical Center’s Women’s Hospital.
So to help comfort families whose newborns need a little extra care, the hospital is expanding and improving its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
“We currently have a 22-bed unit, and those beds are in three large rooms – it’s more ward-style care,” says Ellen Friloux, administrator for Women’s and Children’s Services at NMMC. “So you can imagine it’s not optimal for parent privacy and bonding with their new babies. We’re moving toward semi-private rooms where each family will have their own private space.”
The new facility, slated to open in spring 2009, is being added atop the Women’s Hospital in the form of a whole new second floor. It is designed to accommodate 34 newborns with the flexibility to accommodate 50. The NICU will have space for 18 premature or critically ill newborns, while an Intermediate Care Nursery will hold up to 16 less-fragile babies.
Both the NICU and Intermediate Care Nursery will also have a four-bed ward for babies who need to be in isolation or to accommodate triplets or quadruplets.
Regular rooms will hold two newborns and will feature a nurse’s workstation between the two beds. The workstation will be behind glass walls to give nurses a full view of each patient while ensuring a peaceful environment for the babies.
“The new NICU will occupy the entire second floor, and we will have public education space and classrooms on the first floor,” Friloux says. “It will enhance our philosophy of family-centered care. We will even have a family room where families can do laundry, watch television or have a snack.”
The family area will also offer showers, locker facilities, computers with Internet access and a play area for siblings.
To make sure families feel comfortable caring for their newborns after leaving the hospital, a Discharge Preparation Room will be available for parents needing special instructions before taking their newborns home.
Parents will be able to spend up to three nights in a homelike environment, where they can take care of the baby on their own with staff members nearby if needed.
Dr. Bryan Darling serves as medical director of the NICU and helped plan the expansion.
“Our goal in this expansion is to provide a more family-centered and developmentally appropriate environment for fragile premature and full-term infants in North Mississippi,” Darling says. “This state-of-the-art facility will provide space in each room for parents to spend the night with their babies, and there will be significant improvements in light, sound and temperature control that will enhance developmental outcomes.”
The NICU expansion is just one of the ways NMMC’s Women’s Hospital has made the childbirth experience more enjoyable in recent years.
“Four years ago, we expanded our labor and delivery department,” Friloux says. “It has homelike finishes, like wood flooring, cherry furnishings, nice drapes, a recliner for dad and nice bedspreads, which all make the rooms more inviting.”
The hospital’s postpartum rooms have also gotten a facelift.
“They have nice pictures on the walls, pretty drapes like you’d have in your own home and nicer furnishings,” Friloux says. “It makes a much more comfortable environment for our families with new babies.”
Story by Jessica Mozo
Photo by Jeff Adkins
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