NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit)
Sutter Roseville Medical Center
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Due to the explosive population growth in Placer County, Sutter Health recognized the need for a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to serve families in the Roseville and surrounding area. Sutter Roseville Medical Center’s Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit features 16 licensed beds (bassinets) to provide immediate and advanced life-saving care to the most critically ill newborns from Placer County and surrounding areas.
The advantage to families obtaining infant care in the NICU at Sutter Roseville is keeping these tiny patients closer to home and their families, allowing them more time with their ill or premature newborn. Previously all sick or preemie babies were automatically transferred to the NICU at Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento.
The Sutter Roseville NICU is designed to provide family centered care, in which the new mother and father are welcomed into the unit to participate in the treatment plan of care. The unit features a family waiting room, individualized areas for staff and patients, and a sleeping room to transition the family from hospital to home. Parents use the sleeping room to care for their infant overnight without the help of clinical staff. Of course, staff is on standby in case the parents need assistance but for the most part, parents are on their own, just as they would be at home.
The highlight of the NICU is private rooms for the tiny patients and their families. While the unit also provides semi-private rooms, this NICU is the only unit in the greater Sacramento and Roseville area to feature private rooms.
The family friendly design was created with active input from physicians, nurses, clinical staff and the community. Design ideas were based on the need for more privacy for the families and better access to the patients for the staff.
NICU services to families include physicians who are board certified in neonatal perinatal medicine, registered nurses with specialty training in the care of the critically ill newborns, a lactation consultant with a background in neonatal intensive care for babies, a social worker and a public health nurse to link parents with helpful community services for families. In addition, the physicians, or neonatalogists, have long-standing professional relationships with the Sutter Roseville OB/GYNs, ensuring a smooth coordination of care between the mothers and their newly born babies.
The NICU Level III designation means the unit will care for sick babies as well as premature babies. However, services are linked to the NICU at Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento in cases where babies need an even higher level of care. Because the neonatalogists practice at both Sutter Memorial’s and Sutter Roseville’s NICUs, there is a collaborative approach to the care of these little patients. Babies identified as needing more specialized services will have the advantage of obtaining services of the NICU in Sacramento. Otherwise, the infants will receive high quality care in the NICU at Sutter Roseville Medical Center, closer to home and their families.