Neonatology
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Children’s Hospital Central California is an 88-bed regional tertiary Level III NICU with 21 private and semi-private rooms and an additional 18 beds in satellite units throughout the Valley. Children’s NICU provides 24 hour coverage by board certified neonatologists with consultations from medical and surgical subspecialists.
We see almost 1,000 cases and have 20,000 patient days annually. Our outcomes with neonates under 1,500 grams is consistently better than other Level III centers in the state. Our adjusted mortality rate for this population is 9.2% compared to a 12.2% California average.
Our ‘case-mix index’ (a number that compares the severity of different populations), is the fourth highest of all 37 NICUs in a nationally comparative database. In other words, on average, the babies that come to Children’s are more seriously ill than those that come to 33 of the other NICUs, and yet we have better results than all of our regional peers.
Satellite NICUs
Children’s Hospital Central California owns and operates a network of satellite NICUs in regional
hospitals, providing the opportunity for some families with premature babies to receive treatment closer to home.
These satellites are located in:
Level II Neonatal Care including treatment of:
- Prematurity, Sepsis
- Hyperbilirubinemia
- Feeding difficulties
- Respiratory Distress
- Hypoglycemia
We provide Resuscitation Teams made up of Extended Practice trained RN’s and Respiratory Care Practitioners who attend all high risk deliveries. Depending on their clinical status, those patients are stabilized on site and either prepared for Critical Transport via our Medical Transport Team to Children’s or managed within the Level II satellite. Many infants remain in the satellite for the duration of their inpatient stay, receiving high quality patient care close to their own homes. Physicians who are on staff at Children’s care for the patients in the satellites.
The satellites also will receive back those initially critical patients who were transported out at birth so that they can be closer to home for the remainder of their stay for continuing care.
Services Offered & Conditions Treated
These are some of the most common services available:
- Prematurity
- Ventilatory support
- Cardiovascular support
- Respiratory distress syndrome
- Congenital abnormalities
- Sepsis
- Genetic testing
- Nitric Oxide Therapy
- Intravenous therapy
- Cardiac anomalies
- Diaphragmatic hernias
- Heart disorders
- Kidney disorders
- Gastrointestinal disorders
- Liver disorders
- Genetic disorders and malformation
- Hematologic diseases
- Infections
- Neurological/neurosurgical conditions
- Primary metabolic defects
- Surgical conditions
- Developmental and behavioral program
- Complex birth defects
- High risk medical conditions
- Birth apnea
- Hyperbilirubinemia
- Patent Ductus Arteriosus
- Chronic Lung Follow-up Clinic
- High-Risk Infant follow-up program
Ronald McDonald House
- Provides a place to stay for parents from outside the Fresno/Madera area whose children are patients.
Multidisciplinary Services