Neonatal ICU (Oakland)
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Welcome to the Kaiser Permanente Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Oakland!
Our team is composed of neonatologists (pediatricians with further training in the special care of newborns), pediatricians and neonatal nurse practitioners who specialize in providing care for hospitalized infants. In addition to our hospital specialists, our inpatient team includes other health care professionals, including neonatal nurses, pediatric residents, nutritionists, social workers, and patient care coordinators, all committed to providing state of the art neonatal care.
It is our goal to provide high quality, personalized medical services to our patients and their families when they are hospitalized. We also strive to achieve open communication with parents and the patient’s primary care provider to involve them in treatment and diagnostic decisions. Each week there will be one staff neonatologist (the primary neonatologist) who coordinates medical care during daytime hours. This doctor leads the team on morning rounds, when we discuss each patient’s condition and their care plan for the day. A second pediatrician (the back up neonatologist) is on hand during the day to handle emergencies while the team is rounding on the patients, and to assist in teaching the pediatric residents (junior doctors training to be pediatricians). The primary neonatologist changes each Monday and leads the team in the care of the patients in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for one week until the following Monday. This neonatologist makes rounds with the team on all the infants in the NICU every day to assure that care is coordinated and needs are promptly addressed. In addition, he or she teaches and guides the pediatric residents regarding care of all the babies in the NICU so that they can provide patient care during evening, night and early morning hours. There is always a staff pediatrician or neonatologist in the NICU overnight who is primarily responsible for care of babies in the NICU. Sometimes, a pediatric resident is on call in the NICU at night with the staff pediatrician in order to learn about caring for the babies during the evening.
We want your baby’s stay to be as safe and pleasant as possible. We have created a NICU team that provides experienced and comprehensive care for babies requiring hospitalization. Our program provides a family friendly environment as well as modern treatment modalities. Our team of physicians and health professionals is committed to providing you and your baby with a positive experience and the best possible health outcomes. We schedule family conferences as needed with the families of our patients. These conferences are a chance for the members of the team to sit down with our patients’ parents (and other family members) and answer questions, discuss care options, and get to know each other a little better.
Because of Kaiser Permanente’s commitment to comprehensive care, you can be assured that we will make every effort to inform your baby’s primary care physician of the care provided while in the hospital so that he or she can continue to monitor your baby’s progress as an outpatient. In addition, we provide a smooth transition between inpatient and outpatient care by scheduling a visit for your baby with his or her primary care physician soon after discharge. Other appointments, such as eye exams and visits with specialists are also made before our babies leave the NICU. Our social worker and discharge planners coordinate all the details of sending babies home from the hospital, from parent education to follow up appointments. We also work with home health nurses, who visit some of our families at home shortly after they leave the hospital. They are able to answer many of the questions that come up for families after they bring their baby home, and they can check on weight gain, breast feeding, and other important health issues for both mother and baby. Together, we do everything we can to start your baby on a healthy life path!
