The NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) room is a special place for caring for newborns who need close supervision by medical personnel. Usually babies who are treated in the NICU room are born with a health disorder, for example born prematurely or born with a congenital defect.
Like the emergency department (ER), the NICU room is a rapid response unit. This room is a special treatment room that provides facilities and infrastructure to overcome and prevent various conditions that can endanger the safety of newborns with health problems.
Various Equipment Available in the NICU Room
The NICU room is equipped with various medical devices to support intensive care of newborns. The following are tools that you can find inside the NICU room:
1. Incubator
An incubator is a small bed like a baby crib made of hard colored transparent plastic. This tool is useful for protecting infants from various causes of infection, as well as keeping the body warm.
Around the incubator, there are various medical devices that are ready to be used to overcome critical conditions and to maintain the stability of the baby's condition.
2. Light therapy equipment
Light therapy or phototherapy is done to treat babies who are yellow due to high bilirubin levels. Through light therapy, the form of bilirubin is changed so that it can be removed from the body through urine. That way, the levels are expected to return to normal.
3. Ventilator
A ventilator or breathing apparatus is used to help the breathing of a newborn who has respiratory problems or lung problems. This tool will be connected to a thin tube that is inserted into the baby's airway through his nose or mouth.
4. Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP)
In addition to the ventilator, there are also other breathing apparatus called continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). This tool is used for babies who can still breathe on their own but need help. This tool is connected with a small tube that is inserted into the nose.
5. Feeding tubes
This tool is inserted into the baby's stomach through the mouth or nose to distribute breast milk (ASI) or formula milk.
6. Infusion hose
The IV tube is used to help administer medications and fluids that are needed by the baby. Usually the IV tube is inserted into a vein in the baby's arm or hand.
7. Monitor
All babies treated in the NICU room are connected to the monitor. This monitor serves to display the heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, temperature, and oxygen levels in the baby's body.
Besides being equipped with medical equipment, the NICU room is also overseen by a number of medical officers, including special nurses for the NICU, general practitioners, pediatricians, and other related specialists.
Rules to Know in the NICU Room
The NICU room is a sterile area that cannot be entered by just anyone, the parents of the babies being treated are no exception. To keep the NICU room sterile, the hospital provides soap or hand sanitizers, masks, and special clothing to ensure that visitors who enter the NICU do not carry germs.
Each hospital has a different policy in limiting the number of visitors and the hours of visit to the NICU room. This rule is enforced so that babies treated at NICU are not disturbed by noise.
Condition of Infants who Must Enter the NICU Room
There are various conditions that make babies have to be treated in the NICU room, but lung failure in premature babies is the most frequent cause that requires intensive care in the NICU room.
Some baby conditions that need to be entered into the NICU room:
Neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS)
Neonatal respiratory distress syndrome is a condition in which respiratory disorders occur in premature babies caused by a lack of surfactant in the lungs. Without these substances, the lungs cannot develop properly, so the baby cannot breathe properly.
In this condition, newborn babies need breathing apparatus or ventilators available in the NICU room.
Infection
There are several conditions that cause newborns to be more susceptible to infection, one of which is premature birth. The immune system of premature babies is still very weak, so it has not been able to fight viruses and bacteria that cause infections.
With care in the NICU room, newborns who have infections can be treated intensively and given drugs through an IV. If complications or emergencies occur, the baby can be treated immediately with complete medical equipment in the NICU room.
Jaundice
Besides being vulnerable to infection, premature babies also have the potential to experience jaundice. This is because the liver in premature babies is not fully developed, so it can not remove bilirubin from the bloodstream.
Care in the NICU room will make it easier for babies to get a series of therapies, both with radiation and drugs, to overcome the jaundice they experience.
In addition to the three conditions above, babies with congenital diseases, babies born with low weight, triplets, babies who have problems during labor, and babies showing signs of health problems at birth also need to be treated in the NICU room.
If your baby needs to be treated in the NICU room, make sure you have complete information about the facilities and rules that the hospital applies to visit the NICU room. You can get this information from doctors as well as from hospital staff.
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