St. Luke's Boise
Newborn
Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
Welcome to St. Luke’s Developmental Nursery
St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital is home to Idaho’s first and most experienced Level III Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Our NICU has earned the praise of thousands of grateful parents for providing family-centered, quality care in a technologically advanced environment equivalent to outstanding centers in other children’s hospitals.
At St. Luke’s NICU, a team of experts provides continuous care and life support for premature infants as well as full-term infants who are critically ill. We provide this care in a way that is sensitive and individualized to each infant, to best support their development and meet their special needs. Each year, St. Luke’s NICU cares for nearly 1,000 infants from throughout a multi-state region.
|
St. Luke’s NICU is specially designed to provide an environment that supports the developing infant. We strive to provide a quiet environment with a comforting level of light to promote the baby’s rest and recovery, as well as their growth and development. The environment around the baby is important to his or her development. Just as the mother’s womb is quiet and protected for the developing baby, St. Luke’s NICU is protective and nurturing to best support each infant’s development.
NIDCAP® Nursery Certification
In 2008, St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital became the first hospital in the world to achieve Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP) Nursery Certification. This honor was conferred by NIDCAP Federation International, whose mission is to develop and support a worldwide collaborative community of trainers, health care systems, professionals, families, and other partners to ensure that the highest quality of individualized, developmentally supportive, family centered care is available to all newborns in intensive and special care nurseries.
About Our Care
St. Luke’s provides newborn care based on NIDCAP principles, which were developed through collaboration at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Approximately 200 newborn intensive care units in the United States are currently using NIDCAP principles in their care of infants and families. St. Luke’s has been using this method of assessment and planning of infants’ care for more than 12 years.
St. Luke’s chose this method of providing care based on the infant’s individual behaviors and needs because research has shown infants receiving this kind of care have better developmental outcomes. The way we care for babies affect their long-term development. When care is provided based on the baby’s reaction to care giving and spontaneous movements and actions, we are able to provide the best support to the baby.
St. Luke’s is one of only 16 internationally acclaimed NIDCAP training sites worldwide, training medical professionals in this specialized method of care for premature and ill newborns. This means that along with medical treatment, infants in the St. Luke’s NICU receive special care that enhances normal development and meets each child’s unique needs.
What Are Behavioral Cues?
Babies speak to us through their actions. We watch how the baby breathes, the color of his or her skin, the movements, and how well he or she sleeps and awakens to determine what the baby needs. To many people, it seems that babies are always sleeping, and they wonder how babies can tell us what they need.
Babies speak to us even in sleep by their skin color, how easily they breathe, how they squirm or wiggle, and how they move their hands to their face and mouth. The sounds they make, no matter how small, are giving us messages as we care for them. As we watch the babies, we are able to see their strengths and sensitivities. This helps us care for them in a way that supports their own strengths, and helps them get stronger in areas where they are still developing strengths.
NIDCAP Assessments
All St. Luke’s NICU staff receive education in this method of caring for babies. Babies are assessed by staff who have additional training in this assessment, which is called a NIDCAP Observation. From the assessment, additions are made to the baby’s plan of care to support him or her in a way that helps in development.
The assessment also provides information for parents about the baby’s plan of care. The baby’s caregiver will discuss this information with the parents. As we talk with parents about their child's care, we can share with them their own baby’s strengths and where he or she needs help to grow and develop.
An Exceptional Staff
Caring for the tiniest of patients is a
big job. At St. Luke’s NICU we have a team of professionals that includes board-certified
neonatologists, neonatal nurse practitioners, nurses, respiratory
therapists, dedicated pharmacists, dietitians, and occupational
and physical therapists, along with a medical social worker
and chaplains—all of whom provide the experience and
compassionate care that fragile infants and their families
require.
Twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year, the
St.
Luke’s NICU team is dedicated to the delicate physical,
emotional, and developmental needs of premature and severely
ill infants, some of whom weigh just over one pound. Thanks
to these very special people, St. Luke’s NICU has been
recognized nationally and internationally for our quality
and approach to care.
Meet our Neonatologists and Neonatal Nurse Practitioners
A Very Special Place
St. Luke’s NICU cares for as many as 60 babies at any one time. To meet these demands, the
St. Luke’s
NICU provides semi-private,
family-centered, customized rooms that promote bonding
and security, as well as lighting and noise controls designed
to optimize growth and development of premature infants.
The unit is equipped to support up to 66 infants and their
families—meeting our region’s need for NICU care
for many years to come.
St. Luke’s commitment to fragile newborns includes 24-hour onsite neonatologist coverage. This service enhances patient care as well as communication, coordination and partnership between neonatologists, referring physicians and hospital staff. Our patient medical records system provides a history and physical, weekly summary, and discharge summary that is immediately available to the referring physician or consultants.
Medical Transport
Our integrated transport program, Air
St. Luke’s, provides safe, rapid, and highly skilled
transport for high-risk pregnant women and premature
and severely ill infants. Our specialized teams of respiratory
therapists and neonatal and perinatal nurses moved nearly
300 patients this past year via our fully equipped ground,
fixed wing, and helicopter transport units.
We are committed to always providing the safest and most appropriate transport method necessary for the patient's best care. In the neonatal and perinatal setting, our goal is to deliver stabilizing care rapidly, then select the safest method for patient transport. That is why we also provide specialized education to our regional hospitals on initial newborn resuscitation (NRP) and stabilization for transport (STABLE). A high-risk obstetrician and neonatologist are always available for patient consult and to discuss optimal care for those patients requiring transport.
Parent Accommodations
We welcome parents to spend as much time
as possible with their newborn children. Privacy and comfort
are essential components of our NICU patient care rooms.
In addition, the Ronald McDonald House and Courtyard by Marriott
are within walking distance, and offer special rates to families
of St. Luke’s NICU and pediatric patients.
Click here to read about the Level II NICU at St. Luke's Meridian.
