What to Expect During Your Stay with Us
Welcome to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU). All of us at Minnesota Neonatal Physicians, P.A. want to ensure that you and your infant have the best NICU experience possible.
We know that having an infant in the NICU can be stressful, and want to give you an idea of what to expect during your time with us. We also want to make you aware of the people and services available to help you. In the past, parents have found the following information to be helpful, but please feel free to ask questions or for help at any time. We only exist as an organization to serve you and your baby.
About Your Baby's Care
During your baby's stay in the NICU your baby's care is directed by a neonatologist. A neonatologist is a pediatrician with several years of additional, specialized training in the care of sick newborns. Minnesota Neonatal Physicians is comprised of 13 (soon to be 14) neonatologists with over 300 years of combined experience in caring for infants. One of our neonatologists will see your baby every day.
A Warm Welcome
Most NICUs have a welcome area. These areas are staffed by experienced personnel, who can help you become acquainted with the NICU. . For example, the welcome desk at Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Minneapolis Campus is open from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. . The welcome desk staff can provide you with a nametag, directions, and introductory information about the NICU.
Inside the NICU
Upon entering the NICU at Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Minneapolis Campus you'll see a central open area. Radiating from that open area are a total of eight individual nurseries, each with room for up to eight newborns.
Stationed on the right toward the middle of the central open area you'll find the central health unit coordinator (dressed in light green uniform). This is the person who can tell you the room in which your baby is being treated, and provide other helpful information for you.
Sometimes we need to move babies from one room to another to optimize nurse staffing. The health unit coordinator can help you find your baby if your baby has been moved.
About Your Baby's Care
As a parent, you have the right to know the name and contact information of the doctor caring for your infant. Every day, one of our neonatologists will examine your baby, review the chart, laboratory and other results, speak with your baby’s nurse, and create or modify a treatment plan and progress note. This neonatologist, sometimes referred to as “the rounding physician,” is the member of the NICU team who is responsible for directing all of your baby’s care. Questions about your baby’s condition, treatment plan and laboratory or X-ray results should all be addressed to the rounding neonatologist. They are generally in the NICU from 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM.
We understand the reassurance that comes from knowing who is caring for your baby. As staff and physician schedules can sometimes be confusing, and several people can be involved in your baby's care, we write the name of the nurse and doctor assigned to your baby on a small white board at the bedside.
We have a neonatologist on duty 24 hours a day. In rare instances, the on-call neonatologist will leave the hospital for a brief period to go to another hospital to see a sick baby at night. Because we provide 24-hour services, we work in shifts. That means that during your baby’s hospital stay, several neonatologists may be involved in the care of your infant. Our neonatologists typically make their rounds in the NICU for five to seven days at a time. The advantage of this type of coverage is that your infant will receive the benefit of different neonatologists’ experience and knowledge. While you may see a particular physician many times over the course of your baby’s hospitalization, your baby will not usually have the same doctor each week throughout your baby’s stay in the NICU.
Communicating with Your Baby's Doctor
We want you to receive the information you need in order to feel comfortable about the care your baby is receiving. At any time you feel you need to speak with a doctor, your baby’s nurse will arrange for a doctor to discuss your concerns with you. While we may not be able to speak with you immediately, we will talk with you as soon as circumstances permit. If we aren’t able to speak with you in the NICU, we will call you periodically, depending on your baby’s condition.
Every parent has different needs for information and updates. When your baby starts to improve, there may not be as much information for the doctor to convey to you. If you need more frequent or less frequent updates, just let us know, and we will do our best to meet your needs.
Other Helpful Support
We have many other services designed to help you during your baby's NICU stay, including:
- Storage Lockers — to secure your coat and other personal items
- Family lounge — providing a quiet place to rest, visit with other family members and light snacks.
- Five parent sleep rooms — each complete with a shower, bed and television. These rooms allow parents from outside the metro area to stay near their baby at no additional charge.
- BabyLink — a camera system allowing the newborn's mother to view their baby in the NICU from their hospital room at Abbott Northwestern Hospital via a closed-circuit television connection.
Your baby will also have a social worker. The purpose of the social worker is to help you work through the many issues regarding insurance, special services and the emotional challenges that can arise during a NICU hospitalization.
Caring for You and Your Baby
Helping you understand your baby’s condition and treatment plan is the most important thing that we can do to help you through the difficult experience of having a baby in the NICU. Please ask us about anything that concerns you, so we can help you understand your baby’s situation.