Intensive care nursery

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit | UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals

Critical CareNeonatology

UCSF is a national leader in the field of neonatal care. Each of our locations has a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) devoted to providing the most advanced available care to critically ill newborns and infants. Our San Francisco NICU, the William H. Tooley Intensive Care Nursery, established in 1964, was one of the first of its kind in the world, and our doctors have pioneered a range of diagnostic techniques, treatments and methods for care of the sickest, smallest, most fragile of babies. As a certified regional NICU, the San Francisco nursery provides all levels of newborn intensive care. Our Oakland location is the only Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in the East Bay and also serves patients from across the region.

Our patients include babies born prematurely or with life-threatening birth defects, such as heart and lung problems, gastrointestinal disorders, neurological disorders and other conditions requiring advanced life support, as well as newborns awaiting or recovering from surgery. The NICU is staffed by doctors and nurse practitioners who are specialists in newborn care, along with nurses in other specialties, respiratory therapists, social workers and developmental therapists – all working together to provide care that lasts beyond the initial intervention and recovery period. We also collaborate closely with the specialists treating each infant's particular condition. In Oakland, we have multi-disciplinary teams with expertise in the care of newborns with severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and severe gastrointestinal conditions.

In addition to our emphasis on leading-edge medicine, we recognize the importance of tending to our patients' and their families' emotional and psychological needs. We encourage parents to spend as much time with their baby as possible, and we welcome visits from siblings after they've been screened by our unit services coordinator. Because the NICU is an advanced, high-tech, medically intense environment, developmental specialists team with physicians, nurses and other care providers to reduce the stress of illness or prematurity on each infant in our care. Our developmental specialists also work with parents to teach them how to hold and touch a medically fragile infant and to help them understand a premature or ill baby's signals and cues. To support breastfeeding mothers, board-certified lactation consultants are available seven days a week at our San Francisco ICN. At our Oakland NICU, physicians, nurses, occupational therapists and registered dietitians provide lactation support as needed. Other services for families include spiritual care, a parent support group and a social worker.

Our locations (2)

Yao Sun
MD, PhD
Neonatologist and perinatologist
Arthur E. D'Harlingue
MD
Neonatologist
Jessica Alsofrom
MD
Neonatologist
James Anderson
MD
Neonatologist
Stacie Bennett
MD
Neonatologist
Margarita Berrios
MD
Neonatologist
William Binder
MD, FAAP
Neonatologist
Carlos Botas
MD
Neonatologist
Rebecca Carter
MD
Neonatologist
Lilia Chang De Jesus
MD
Neonatologist
Ronald I.
Clyman
MD
Neonatologist
Elizabeth Crouch
MD
Neonatologist
Adam DeTora
MD
Neonatologist and perinatologist
Golde Dudell
MD
Neonatologist
Fernando Gonzalez
MD
Neonatologist
Kimberly Grelli
MD
Neonatologist
Steven Gwiazdowski
MD
Neonatologist
Kristin Elizabeth Hubert
MD
Neonatologist
Priscilla Joe
MD
Neonatologist
Luke M. Judge
MD, PhD
Neonatologist
Lily Kao
MD
Neonatologist
Roberta Keller
MD
Neonatologist
Genevieve Kinsey
MD
Neonatologist
Kimberly Larson
MD
Neonatologist
Jennifer Levy
MD
Neonatologist
Leslie Lusk
MD
Neonatologist
Spencer Magargal
MD
Neonatologist
Emin Maltepe
MD
Neonatologist
Nandita Mandhani
MBBS
Neonatologist
James McGuire
MD, MPH
Neonatologist
Jeffrey Merrill
MD
Neonatologist
Brian L.
Montenegro
MD
Neonatologist
Vidya Pai
MD
Neonatologist
J. Colin Partridge
MD, MPH
Neonatologist
Shilpa Patil
MD
Neonatologist
Mark Petersen
MD
Neonatologist
Xianhua Piao
MD, PhD, MS
Neonatologist
Kathryn Ponder
MD
Neonatologist
Amber Pope
MD
Neonatologist
Srujana Rallabandi
MBBS, MPH
Neonatologist
Jayalakshmi Ravindran
MD
Neonatologist
Elizabeth E.
Rogers
MD
Neonatologist
Nahid Rostami
MD, FAAP
Neonatologist
Laura Rubinos
MD
Neonatologist
Janet Shimotake
MD
Neonatologist
Thomas Shimotake
MD
Neonatologist
Martina A. Steurer
MD, MAS
Neonatologist and pediatric cardiac critical care specialist
Kristina Stillwell
MD
Neonatologist
Sarah Styles
DO
Neonatologist
Anna Usowicz
MD
Neonatologist
Sandra Wai
MD
Neonatologist
Katherine Y.
Wu
MD
Neonatologist
Robin Bisgaard
RN, MSN
Nurse
Elana Curry
LCSW, MSW
Social worker
Madeleine Dreyfus
MSW
Social worker
Monica Ibarra-Yaquian
LCSW, MSW
Clinical social worker
Sharon Nomburg
LCSW, MSW
Social worker
Stacie Rohovit
NP, MSN
Nurse practitioner
Maricar Aguilar Tabios
LCSW
Social worker

Awards & recognition

Related clinics (3)

San Francisco / Oakland

San Francisco / Oakland / Eureka / Fremont / Greenbrae / Modesto / Santa. ..

Child Life Services

Activity rooms, pet therapy and more to help kids feel at home.

Gentle Hands Program

We help parents of medically fragile infants bond with their babies via special techniques for soothing, holding and bathing their child. Learn more.

Family Amenities

Family-friendly amenities help you relax and take care of yourself while staying close to your child. We offer lounges, kitchens, showers, breastfeeding rooms and more.

Social Services

Social workers ease the effect of illness, injury and hospitalization on your family with counseling and assistance to help you navigate the challenges.

Parent Support Program

Weekly activities, including knitting, scrapbooking, chair massage and more, help family caregivers get a much-needed break. Find out more.

Spiritual Care

Chaplains help UCSF patients, families and staff cope with the spiritual and emotional challenges of childhood illness. Learn more.

Interpreter Services & Communication Assistance

Interpreter services in many languages and TDDs are available for families that need help communicating with care teams. Here's how to access them.

Music Therapy Program

Board-certified music therapists help kids cope with illness and the feelings that come with it. Find out about group activities and bedside therapy.

Family Resource Center

We help families cope with the challenges of childhood illness and hospitalization in a relaxing environment where parents can get a much-needed break.

Patient Relations

Patient relations reps and nursing supervisors are here to answer questions and address concerns. Learn about your rights, how to reach us and more.

International Services

If you're coming to UCSF from outside the U.S., we coordinate your child's appointments and provide other helpful services. Here's how to get started.

Our research initiatives

Staff superheroes

It’s a bird.

It’s a plane. It’s a window washer! Dressed as a superhero to clean and brighten your day.

When Your Baby's in the NICU (for Parents)

What Is the NICU?

When babies are born early, have health problems, or a difficult birth they go to the hospital's NICU. NICU stands for "neonatal intensive care unit." There, babies get around-the-clock care from a team of experts.

Most of these babies go to the NICU (NIK-yoo) within 24 hours of birth. How long they stay depends on their health condition. Some babies stay only a few hours or days; others stay weeks or months.

You may hear the NICU called:

a special care nursery
an intensive care nursery
a newborn intensive care nursery

Who Can Visit the NICU?

Parents can visit and spend time with their babies who stay in the NICU. Other family members might be able to visit, but only during set hours and only a few at a time. Children visiting the NICU must be well (not sick) and should have all their immunizations. Check with the hospital staff about which family members can see your baby.

Some units require guests to wear hospital gowns. You may need to wear gloves and a mask.

Everyone who comes into the NICU must wash their hands before they enter. (There will be a sink and antibacterial soap in the room and near the entrance of the NICU.) This is a crucial part of keeping the NICU as clean as possible so the babies aren't exposed to germs.

You may be tempted to bring toys, decorations, or other items in your baby's room, but check with the nurse first. If allowed, these things should be easy to clean (no stuffed animals). Some hospitals let parents tape pictures or other decorations to the outside of a baby's incubator.

What's the Medical Equipment for?

When you first enter the NICU, it's normal to feel a little alarmed by all the equipment you see. But it's there to help your baby get well. Here's a brief look at some equipment you might find:

Infant warmers: These are small beds with heaters over them to help babies stay warm while being monitored. Because they are open, they allow easy access to babies.
Incubators: These are small beds enclosed by clear, hard plastic. Temperature in the incubator is controlled to keep your baby's body temperature where it should be. Doctors, nurses, and other caregivers care for babies through holes in the sides of the incubator.
Phototherapy: Some newborns have a problem called jaundice, which makes the skin and whites of the eyes yellow. Phototherapy treats jaundice. During treatment, babies lie on a special light-therapy blanket and have lights attached to their beds or incubators. Most babies only need phototherapy for a few days.
Monitors: Monitors let nurses and doctors keep track of your baby's vital signs (things like temperature, heart rate, and breathing) from any place in the NICU. Monitors include:
- Chest leads: These small, painless stickers on your baby's chest have wires that connect to monitors. They track heart rate and number of breaths.
- A pulse oximetry (or pulse ox): This machine measures your baby's blood oxygen levels. Also painless, the pulse ox is taped to your baby's fingers or toes like a small bandage and emits a soft red light.
- A temperature probe records your baby's temperature and shows it on the monitor. This is a coated wire placed on your baby's skin with a patch.
- Blood pressure is monitored through an arterial line or a blood pressure cuff.
Feeding tubes: Often, premature babies or babies who are sick can't breastfeed or take a bottle yet. Others can breastfeed or take a bottle, but still need extra calories to grow. These babies get nutrition (formula or breast milk) through a feeding tube. Tubes enter through the mouth or nose and go into a baby's stomach. They are taped in place so they don't move around. Nurses change the tubes often to prevent soreness.
IVs: An intravenous catheter (or IV) is a thin, bendable tube that goes into a vein to give medicines and fluids. Almost all babies in the NICU have an IV. These usually are in the hands or arms, but some babies have them in other places, like the feet, legs, or scalp. IVs allow some medicines to be given in small amounts around-the-clock instead of giving your baby shots every few hours. Treatment with an IV may be called a "drip" or "infusion."
Lines. Some babies need to get greater amounts of fluids and medicines than an IV can give. They get larger tubes called central lines put into a large vein in the chest, neck, or groin. Surgeons put in central lines. Arterial lines are placed in arteries, not veins. They're used to check blood pressure and oxygen levels in the blood (but some babies may have a blood pressure cuff instead).
Ventilators: Babies in the NICU sometimes need extra help to breathe. A baby is connected to the ventilator (or breathing machine) by an endotracheal tube (a plastic tube placed into the windpipe through the mouth or nose). Babies who've been in the NICU for a long stay — months at a time — may have a tracheostomy (a plastic tube put into the windpipe) that's connected to the ventilator on the other end.
Oxygen hood or nasal cannula: Some babies need extra oxygen but don't need a ventilator. Babies who can breathe on their own might get oxygen from plastic tubes in the nose (called a nasal cannula) or from an oxygen hood placed over the head.

Can I Hold My Baby?

Depending on your baby's health, you might be able to hold your little one even if he or she is on a ventilator or has an IV. If the doctors feel that would be too much, you can still hold your baby's hand, stroke his or her head, and talk and sing to him or her. A gentle touch will be the most reassuring.

But for some very premature infants, touching is stressful. Doctors may suggest that you limit physical touch, but still spend as much time as possible with your baby. Check with the doctor or nurses to figure out how much and what type of touch is best.

If you can, skin-to-skin contact (or "kangaroo care") is a good way to bond with your baby:

Place your baby (who's usually dressed in just a diaper and a hat) on your chest underneath your shirt, so your little one is resting on your skin.
Loosely close your shirt over your baby to help keep him or her warm.

Skin-to-skin contact can help with breastfeeding and improve healing times so that babies go home sooner.

How Can I Help Care for My Baby?

Mothers may be able to breastfeed their babies or offer pumped breast milk or formula in a bottle. If you need help breastfeeding or pumping, ask a nurse or lactation consultant.

Because many babies in the NICU can't yet feed on their own (either due to early development or health problems), they can get breast milk or formula through a feeding tube.

Babies in the NICU are on a feeding schedule. Your baby's nurse can tell you when your baby should eat and sleep. The more time you spend with your baby, the more you will learn about:

what type of interaction your baby likes (stroking, singing, etc.)
what time of day your baby is the most alert
how long your baby can respond to you before getting tired
when your baby is stressed and needs to rest

Talk in a calm, soothing voice, keep lights dim, and keep noise to a minimum. Although you may want to interact with your baby often, let your baby sleep when he or she needs to.

How Can I Feel Less Stressed?

Having a baby in the NICU can be one of the most stressful times in your life. You may be away from your support circle, such as friends, family, and other children. Your life may seem like it's been turned upside down as you wait for the day when your baby is ready to go home with you.

As hard as it can be, it's important to keep things as normal as possible. These tips can help:

Pay attention to your own needs and those of the rest of your family, especially any other kids. Doing something for yourself can be as simple as taking a relaxing bath, going for a walk, or reading a favorite book.
Make plans for a weekly family activity, and sit down together and talk about how this experience makes you feel.
Turn to other parents whose babies are in the NICU for support. They'll know better than anyone what you're feeling. Join a support group to share your feelings, worries, and triumphs together.
The hospital's chaplain also can give you support.

When you take care of yourself, you'll be more rested and better able to take care of and get to know your baby. While a NICU stay can be hard, it's also rewarding to watch your little one grow stronger each day.

Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD

Date reviewed: January 2019

Intensive Care Ward

Postoperative follow-up with hardware monitoring

After the end of anesthesia, the patient wakes up on the operating table, after which he is transferred to the intensive care unit. Within two hours, he fully regains consciousness, being under the close supervision of an anesthesiologist-resuscitator and an anesthetist nurse. If the condition is stable and does not cause concern, he is transferred to a round-the-clock hospital ward, where he spends from 1 to 3 days.

Telephone whatsapp

Prices Reviews Before and after

The room is equipped with everything necessary for emergency care in case of complications, including maintaining blood circulation, thermoregulation, metabolism and proper breathing with the help of a ventilator.

It is important to emphasize that during the entire period of work of our clinic, only complications of group "A" (not harmful to health) were recorded - these are nausea, vomiting, excessive drowsiness, sore throat. At the same time, their severity and duration were small.

The team of the anesthesiology department of the clinic "Europe" always carries out its work at the highest professional level.

Specialists of department

* Consent to the processing of personal data

Cost

Description	Price	Shares
Daily examination by a surgeon with supervision and care and junior medical staff in the intensive care unit.	7500	-

All promotions Price list for all services

+7(4932) 415-222 whatsapp

Customer reviews

Gynecologist

Svetlana Polyakova

Everything went well, thanks to Dr. Romanov Vladimir Nikolaevich! Vladim...

More info

Obstetrician-gynecologist

Natalia

Clinic Europe is an excellent clinic, everything is at the highest level, Wonderful staff, Vladimir Nikolaevich and Evgenia Sergeevna are doctors from God, all the staff are deputy ...

Learn more

Breast ultrasound

Vera

Good afternoon. Was at the reception (for the first time in the clinic "Europe") 4.11.22 at the mammologist-surgeon Tychkova Natalia Alexandrovna. I really liked the doctor, pr...

Learn more

Obstetrician-gynecologist

Irina Moshchenko

From the bottom of my heart I express my deep, sincere gratitude to the doctors Evgenia Sergeevna Aleksinskaya and Vladimir Nikolaevich Romanov for the highest professionalism, h...

Learn more

BodyTite liposuction

Anna

Many thanks to Oleg Alexandrovich for the high-quality liposuction! At the consultation, he explained everything in detail about the operation, the postoperative period. ...

Learn more

Clinic services

Nadezhda

Echi Ilyasovna Kairovna - golden hands! Caring and talented. I had advanced varicose veins. I visited the clinic in February. Put in a queue for a quota. Promised...

Learn more

Cosmetologist

Ekaterina

I had a photoepilation procedure with Dr. Arkhipova Larisa Mikhailovna on August 19th. For many years I tuned in to this procedure, I doubted ... but after the consul ...

Learn more

Photorejuvenation Lime Light

Marina Knyazkova

Excellent clinic and very competent specialists! Many thanks to Larisa Mikhailovna, an expert in her field! High-quality identification of the problem and its solution! In...

Learn more

Choose a doctorGROSHEV Ivan Sergeevich

* Consent to the processing of personal data

Make an appointment Online payment Documents online

Rules for visiting the intensive care unit

Smolensk region, Sychevka, st. Working, d. 4

Visits by relatives of patients in the intensive care unit are permitted under the following conditions:

1. Relatives must not show signs of acute infectious diseases (fever, manifestations of a respiratory infection, diarrhea). Medical certificates of the absence of diseases are not required.

2. Before visiting the medical staff, it is necessary to have a brief conversation with relatives to explain the need to inform the doctor about the presence of any infectious diseases, to prepare psychologically for what the visitor will see in the department.

3. Before visiting the ICU, the visitor must take off their outer clothing, put on shoe covers, a dressing gown, a mask, a cap, and wash their hands thoroughly. Mobile phones and other electronic devices must be turned off.

4. Visitors in a state of alcoholic (drug) intoxication are not allowed in the PIT.

5. The visitor undertakes to keep quiet, not to interfere with the provision of medical care to other patients, to follow the instructions of medical personnel, not to touch medical devices.

6. Children under the age of 14 are not allowed to visit patients.

7. No more than two visitors are allowed in the room at the same time.

8. Visits to relatives are not allowed during invasive procedures (tracheal intubation, vascular catheterization, ligation, etc.) in the ward, cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

9. Relatives may assist medical staff in caring for the patient and maintaining cleanliness in the ward only at their own request and after detailed instructions.

10. In accordance with Federal Law N 323-FZ, medical personnel should ensure the protection of the rights of all patients in the ICU (protection of personal information, compliance with the security regime, provision of timely assistance).

Dear visitor!

Your relative is in serious condition in our department, we provide him with all necessary assistance. Before visiting a relative, please read this leaflet carefully. All the requirements that we impose on visitors to our department are dictated solely by concern for the safety and comfort of patients in the ICU.

1. Your relative is sick, his body is now particularly susceptible to infection. Therefore, if you have any signs of contagious diseases (runny nose, cough, sore throat, malaise, fever, rash, intestinal disorders), do not go to the ICU - this is extremely dangerous for your relative and other patients in the department. Tell the medical staff if you have any medical conditions so they can decide if they pose a threat to your family member.

2. Before visiting the ICU, you should take off your outer clothing, put on shoe covers, a dressing gown, a mask, a cap, wash your hands thoroughly.

3. Visitors who are under the influence of alcohol (drugs) are not allowed in the PIT.

4. No more than 2 relatives can be in the ICU at the same time, children under 14 are not allowed to visit the ICU.