What is NICU?

NICU is a special; care nursery, also called an intensive care nursery or a newborn intensive care nursery. A hospital's NICU is a nursery where unwell or premature infants get round-the-clock care. It offers medical personnel specialised training and tools to provide your kid with the greatest care.

What are the facilities present in NICU?

There are many different kinds of instruments and machines present in the NICU. Most of them are discussed below:

Infant Warmers

These are little mattresses that have heaters on top so that newborns may keep warm while being watched. They are accessible to infants since they are open.

Incubators

They are compact beds encased in durable, transparent plastic. The thermostat in the incubator is managed to maintain the proper range for your baby's body temperature. Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals attend to infants through openings on the incubator's sidewalls.

Monitors

Chest Leads

Your newborn's chest will have a few tiny, painless stickers with wires attached that are connected to monitors. Both heartbeat and the number of breaths are monitored.

Pulse Oximetry

It is also called Pulse Ox. The levels of blood oxygen in your infant are measured by this gadget. The pulse ox is a painless device that emits a faint red light and is applied to your newborn's toes or fingers like a little bandage.

Temperature Probe

the monitor displays and tracks your baby's temperature. On your baby's skin, a patch is used to apply a coated wire.

Blood pressure cuff

It is also called an arterial line cuff. It is used for monitoring the arterial line.

Feeding Tubes

Babies who are preterm or ill frequently can't nurse or yet accept a bottle. Some can drink formula or nurse, but they still require more calories to grow. Via a feeding tube, these infants receive sustenance (formula or breast milk). Tubes enter an infant's mouth or nose and go to the stomach. They are secured with sellotape so they won't move. To prevent pain, nurses often replace the tubes.

IVs

An intravenous catheter, often known as an IV, is a small, flexible tube that is inserted into a vein to provide medications and fluids. An IV is present in NICU for all infants. Nevertheless, some infants have them in unusual locations, such as the feet, legs, or scalp, in addition to the conventional locations of the hands or arms.

Lines

Certain newborns require more fluids and medication than an IV can provide. In a sizable vein in the neck, groin, or chest, they have bigger tubes known as central lines implanted. Centra lines are implanted by doctors. Not veins but arteries are used to insert arterial lines. Blood pressure and blood oxygen levels are measured using them.

Ventilators

NICU infants may require additional assistance with breathing. Endotracheal tubes are used to link infants to breathing apparatus such as ventilators (via the mouth or nose, a plastic tube is inserted into the windpipe). A tracheostomy, or plastic tube placed in the windpipe, may be present in infants who have spent months at a time in the NICU. This tube is attached to a ventilator on the other end.

Oxygen hood or nasal cannula

A ventilator might be important for newborns to breathe. When the baby is old enough to breathe on their own, they may use an oxygen hood or a nasal cannula, which are plastic tubes that are inserted in the nose.

Conclusion

Infants are admitted to the hospital's NICU when they are born prematurely, have health issues, or have a challenging delivery. NICU stands for. Babies there receive 24-hour treatment from medical staff.

Request an appointment at Apollo Cradle, Bengaluru - Koramangala. Call 1860-500-4424 to book an appointment.

1. Are visitors allowed inside a NICU?

At the NICU, newborns' parents are allowed to come by and spend some time with them. There is a chance that other family members will be permitted to visit, but only for a limited number of hours each day. Children who attend the NICU have to be healthy and fully immunised on all of their vaccinations.

2. What is the purpose of monitors?

The vital indicators of your infant, including temperature, heart rate, and breathing are monitored by nurses and medical professionals.

3. Jaundice is a common illness from which newborns suffer. How does NICU take care of such neonatal conditions?

Jaundice is treated via phototherapy. Jaundice is a condition that affects certain neonates and causes the skin and eye whites to become yellow. Infants receive treatment while lying on a special light therapy cover with lights mounted to their cribs or incubators.

4. How are intravenous medications provided to newborns?

Rather than providing your child needles every several hours, some medications can be administered intravenously (IV) in small quantities continuously. A "drip" or "infusion" refers to an Intravenous treatment.