Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit provides advanced care to high-risk babies from the 24th week of pregnancy onward, including those born prematurely, multiples, babies of diabetic mothers, large babies, babies who swallowed meconium in the womb, and babies with brain and other organ damage resulting from a difficult birth. Offering all the medical and surgical services its small patients need, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit serves not only babies born at the hospital but all newborns in Türkiye and neighboring countries who require intensive care. For this purpose, it works in cooperation with air and ground ambulance services.

In the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the following are also performed: respiratory support (ventilator therapy), exchange transfusion, phototherapy (light therapy), percutaneous catheter placement (a thin line running from the small veins of the arm or leg to the heart), total parenteral nutrition (feeding entirely through an intravenous line), chest tube insertion (treatment of air leaks from the lung), invasive blood pressure monitoring (blood pressure measurement through the umbilical vessel without disturbing the baby), bedside EEG (brain wave recording), bedside ECHO (cardiac ultrasound), bedside ultrasound (to evaluate the brain and other internal organs) and retinopathy examination (eye examinations of premature babies). The unit receives 24-hour support from Pediatric Surgery, Pediatric Neurology, Pediatric Cardiology, Pediatric Gastroenterology, and Pediatric Metabolism and Endocrinology.

The neonatal intensive care unit of İzmir Özel Can Hastanesi provides the necessary support to all babies who need intensive care. Guided by current medical knowledge and equipped with modern medical technology, it helps babies return to their families as quickly as possible and provides the resources needed to inform and educate families.

At every birth, together with a pediatrician, the following are provided:

• Appropriate neonatal resuscitation and prevention of hypothermia in the baby
• Rooming-in: care of the baby at the mother’s bedside
• Under baby-friendly hospital principles, the importance of breast milk and starting the baby on breast milk as soon as possible
• Mother education, breastfeeding support and breastfeeding education
• Discharge education: bathing, umbilical cord care and information about common problems
• Screening tests (tandem MS)

Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

In recent years, level III intensive care centers have become increasingly important because of their key role in reducing perinatal infant deaths. In this context, the İzmir Özel Can Hastanesi Neonatal Intensive Care Unit provides advanced care to high-risk babies from the 24th week of pregnancy onward, including those born prematurely, multiples, babies of diabetic mothers, large babies, babies who swallowed meconium in the womb, and babies with brain and other organ damage resulting from a difficult birth. Offering all the medical and surgical services its small patients need, the unit serves not only babies born at the hospital but all newborns in Türkiye and neighboring countries who require intensive care. For this purpose, it is structured as a center able to work in cooperation with air and ground ambulance services.

It should be remembered that small premature babies have the best chance of a good quality of life in a level III intensive care unit, where their care and treatment can be provided appropriately and by experienced hands.

It has been reported that when premature and low-birth-weight births take place in level I and level II hospitals, the risk of death is 24% higher. In addition, morbidity, length of hospital stay, periventricular leukomalacia, grade 3–4 intracranial hemorrhage and spasticity are seen at higher rates.

In addition, morbidity, length of hospital stay, periventricular leukomalacia, grade 3–4 intracranial hemorrhage and spasticity are seen at higher rates.

For this reason, prematurity with a gestational age below 32 weeks or a birth weight below 1,500 g, severe respiratory failure (need for long-term mechanical ventilation, persistent pulmonary hypertension), serious recurrent apnea and/or bradycardia, severe congenital anomalies, severe perinatal asphyxia, conditions requiring exchange transfusion, serious hematological disorders (severe thrombocytopenia, severe hemolytic disease) and other conditions requiring intensive care and complex treatment (metabolic disease, intracranial hemorrhage) must be treated in centers with level III intensive care facilities.

In line with level III intensive care criteria, the İzmir Özel Can Hastanesi Neonatal Intensive Care Unit offers:

• 18 intensive care beds
• An experienced team of responsible specialists and on-call physicians in the intensive care unit 24 hours a day
• Easy access, in all specialties that may be needed, to
• other specialist physicians
• One nurse for every two babies on each shift
• A monitor for every bed
• A portable X-ray unit
• A blood gas analyzer
• Bedside ultrasound and echocardiography
• Bedside EEG
• 24-hour support from pediatric surgery, pediatric cardiology, pediatric gastroenterology, and pediatric metabolism and endocrinology
• 3 fully equipped open beds
• 18 incubators
• Infusion pumps
• 7 ventilators
• A transport incubator with ventilator
• Phototherapy (light therapy)
• Two isolation rooms
• Neonatal intensive care procedures
• Monitoring of high-risk pregnancies and births
• Care and treatment of newborns requiring advanced techniques for diagnosis and treatment
• Minimal handling
• Surfactant administration
• Umbilical artery and vein catheterization, central venous catheterization
• Continuous invasive blood pressure monitoring
• Silastic catheter placement
• Pre- and postoperative care of babies requiring neonatal surgery
• Application of new treatment methods and new technologies
• Experienced ROP (retinopathy of prematurity) examination and laser treatment when needed
• Kangaroo care
• Perinatal consultation services for all centers
• Neonatal transport
• Long-term follow-up of discharged babies
• A room for infection control and isolation

Recent advances in perinatology have significantly increased survival rates among very low-birth-weight babies. However, nosocomial (hospital-acquired) infections are seen in 25% or even more of these babies. These infections lead to longer hospital stays and higher costs, as well as a considerable increase in morbidity and mortality. Moreover, this rate rises as newborns’ birth weight and gestational age decrease. When the necessary precautions are taken, nearly half of hospital infections can be prevented. The other half occur unavoidably during medical care despite all precautions.

In the İzmir Özel Can Hastanesi Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, infection control measures are kept at the highest level, the number of babies per nurse is kept at 1–2 for critically ill babies, an early diagnosis and treatment approach is followed, and treatment is continued in an isolation room when necessary.

Kangaroo Care: Skin-to-Skin Contact

Kangaroo care is a form of skin-to-skin communication between the mother and her prematurely born baby. Wearing only a diaper, the baby is placed upright on the mother’s bare chest. The baby’s head is turned to the side so that the baby can hear the mother’s heartbeat. Through this physical touch, the baby receives stimulation and the bond between baby and mother is strengthened. This practice helps tiny babies in particular to have a more regular heartbeat and breathing. It helps them leave the incubator sooner, shortens the hospital stay, reduces apnea episodes and helps feeding intolerance resolve more quickly.

The İzmir Özel Can Hastanesi Neonatal Intensive Care Unit works with strong organization to race against time and to reduce and resolve problems. Its goal is to bring tiny premature babies back to life in the healthiest conditions and with the best possible quality of life.