Recognized Excellence
- Neonatology at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was named No. 1 in the nation by U.S.News & World Report in it's rankings of children's hospitals for 2010-11 and 2011-12. The division was noted for the exemplary reputation of its physicians, superior nurse/patient ratios and availability of multidisciplinary specialists. See Best in the Nation for details.
- In 2009 and 2006, a survey by Child magazine ranked the Newborn/Infant Intensive Care Unit (N/IICU) at CHOP as No. 1 in the nation.
- The N/IICU at Children's Hospital is a 95-bed state-of-the-art facility that provides the full spectrum of specialized, multidisciplinary intensive care services for newborns and infants as young as 23-weeks gestation and as small as one pound at birth.
- The N/IICU treats the sickest children with the most difficult and complex diagnoses.
- The N/IICU is equipped to provide care for infants with the complete range of neonatal and infant critical illnesses including all types of respiratory, surgical, cardiac, genetic, renal, neurological, hematological and metabolic diseases. Areas of special clinical and research expertise include the management of persistent pulmonary hypertension, bronchopulmonary dysplasia and other severe lung disease in newborns, as well as metabolic illnesses, hypoglycemia due to pancreatic abnormalities, complex congenital anomalies and complex post-operative care.
- The N/IICU at Children's Hospital receives more than 1,000 admissions per year and serves as a primary referral center for other neonatal intensive care units in the region. The state-of-the-art facility provides care for neonates and infants from more than 80 hospitals representing nine states. In particular, infants with severe chronic lung disease and hyperinsulinism are frequently referred on both the national and international level to the NI/ICU for highly specialized care.
- The N/IICU team collaborates with the Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment at CHOP, an internationally recognized leader in fetal diagnosis, fetal surgery and fetal care. The Center offers highly specialized care to mothers carrying fetuses with known birth defects that require fetal surgery and treatment before or after birth. In 2008, the Center opened the Garbose Family Special Delivery Unit, the first comprehensive birth facility housed in a pediatric hospital for women carrying babies with known birth defects. Mother, baby and family are in one space for labor, birth and the postpartum experience, and families take comfort knowing that the most advanced intensive care units and operative facilities are within steps of their delivery rooms. More than half of the babies born in the Special Delivery Unit are cared for in the N/IICU; babies with heart issues are treated in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.
- The N/IICU staff partners with the Maternal/Fetal Medicine Program at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, one of the nation's leading programs in high-risk pregnancy and delivery. This collaborative program trains future leaders in clinical care and research.
- The N/IICU at Children's Hospital is a center of excellence for the management of infants with severe chronic lung disease. Many infants admitted to the N/IICU are referred specifically to receive treatment for severe lung disease that is not available at the referring hospital. For details, see Newborn and Infant Chronic Lung Disease Program.
- Children's Hospital physician-scientists have made seminal contributions to the field of Neonatology. These include the establishment of two therapies as standard neonatal treatments: Prenatal corticosteroids and pulmonary surfactant. Clinicians in the N/IICU are active in many cutting-edge clinical research trials, including investigating the mechanisms involved in fetal lung development, as well as causes and treatment of pulmonary diseases in newborns. See neonatology research at CHOP.
- Children's Hospital's Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) program has provided support to more than 250 infants with severe respiratory failure since its inception in 1990.
- Children's Hospital operates a comprehensive Neonatal Follow-Up Program that monitors the physical and cognitive development of high-risk premature patients well into their childhood years, providing information, education and support for families.
- The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia opened the first surgical neonatal intensive care unit in the nation in 1962.
- The NI/ICU is a center of excellence in family-centered care and support for breastfeeding of infants with serious medical problems. The nursing staff is involved in research and education regarding the use of human milk in high-risk infants and management of breastfeeding failure.
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