History of Excellence and Caring

The Nebraska Medical Center’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) has been providing specialized care to premature and high risk newborns and their families, both statewide and from across the country since 1968. Caring and compassionate care coupled with cutting edge expertise in all facets of neonatal medicine, provide our patients and their families the special support that they need.

The NICU serves as a major regional facility that provides expert services for the most critical of babies. These services include Nitric Oxide, High Frequency Oscillating Ventilation (HFOV) , and Neonatal Transport. And the NICU has the only Neonatal ECMO program in the state of Nebraska.

NICU Specialists

Patients and referring physicians have immediate access to board certified neonatologists. These are physicians who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of premature infants and critically ill newborns. Other pediatric subspecialties that are available to the NICU are:

• Pediatric Surgeons
• Pediatric Cardiology
• Pediatric Neurology
• Infectious Disease
• Genetics
• Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders

The NICU staff includes Neonatal Nurse Practitioners (NNP), Resident Doctors, Registered Nurses, Respiratory Therapists, Pharmacists, Social Work Representatives, and Interpretative Services. Together with the neonataologist, we strive to provide and individualize the best possible plan of care for the baby and their family.

A Healthy Start

Family centered developmental care is an integral part of caring for premature and high risk newborns in the NICU. Early involvement of families in the development and implementation of a plan of care for their baby is essential for a positive outcome. This early involvement helps in strengthening the bond between these fragile infants and their families.

A Research and Teaching Hospital

The Nebraska Medical Center is the primary pediatric training site for the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s College of Medicine. Our neonatologists are not only doctors, but also professors of neonatal medicine. Our status as a research and teaching hospital gives us the opportunity to implement and utilize the most current research and technology in the field of neonatal medicine. This is evidenced by our membership in the Vermont Oxford Network (VON). VON is a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the quality and safety of medical care for newborn infants and their families through a coordinated program of research, education and quality improvement projects.