The intensive care environment
Intensive care nursery levels - equipment and care
Support strategies for parents and babies
About intensive care nurseries
Just about all maternity hospitals (public and private) will have some type of special 'nursery' for close observation of newborn babies. The type of care that a specific nursery can provide will depend on the 'level' of intensive care facilities available. This will vary from hospital to hospital.
As a guide, usually every hospital will have a level 1 nursery (for basic observations,
premature babies 'growing up' and low levels of special care). Most hospitals will have a level 2 nursery (using warmed incubator beds, phototherapy for
jaundice, intravenous drips and electronic monitoring) but only a few large, public maternity and children's hospitals will have a level 3 nursery (for very sick and premature babies requiring assistance with their breathing - or 'ventilation'). If you wish to read more on the different nursery levels and the decisions surrounding where your baby may be transferred to if unwell, you can read
transfer to hospital.
The type of care your baby requires will dictate what area or 'level' of the nursery they will spend time in. Your baby may spend a short time (a few hours or days) in level 1 or 2 of the nursery, or if they are very sick and / or premature, start off in level 3 and move down to lower levels over the following days, weeks or even months, as their health improves. The different levels of the nursery can be in separate rooms or interconnected areas, with babies being cared for in one section of a large nursery.
Each hospital usually gives their nursery a different name. The name describing the intensive care nursery will not necessarily reflect the amount of levels and the type of care available. Names often used can be along the lines of 'Neonatal Intensive Care Unit' (NICU), 'Special Care Nursery' (SCN) or 'Newborn Care Unit' (NCU).