Neonatology/NICU

Blake Building, 10th Floor
Phone: 617-724-4310 | Fax: 617-724-4348

State-of-the-Art Facilities in a World-Renowned Academic Medical Center

The Patty Ribakoff Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at MassGeneral Hospital for Children, opened in June 2006, is the most advanced and family focused NICU in the New England region.

The new NICU, five times the size of the previous facility, boasts the most advanced monitoring and ventilation technology available anywhere. It is designated a Level III nursery by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, providing the highest level of care for premature and critically ill infants. The NICU has fourteen licensed ICU beds and four intermediate-care beds.

Patient Transports

When time is of the essence for premature or medically fragile infants, the experienced Transport Team at MassGeneral Hospital for Children moves swiftly via ambulance and helicopter to retrieve patients from area hospitals throughout New England and the eastern United States.

In special cases, long-distance transports can be arranged. Referring physicians and other healthcare professionals may request a consultation, second opinion, or transport twenty-four hours a day.

For more information call the Transport Team at 617-724-HELP.

Advanced Services

Patients admitted to the MassGeneral Hospital for Children Newborn Intensive Care Unit have access to specialists in virtually every specialty and subspecialty of medicine and surgery. The NICU is equipped to care for premature and critically ill patients with complex congenital conditions that require medical or surgical intervention. 

The NICU provides unequivocal care for pre-term and term infants, including patients up to two weeks of age who are admitted from home; or neonates and infants up to three months of age who are transferred from another hospital.  The most advanced technological and therapeutic resources are available to help care for patients and sustain life, including:

• Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation—in part pioneered by physicians at MassGeneral Hospital for Children, ECMO functions as an artificial lung for patients with acute, reversible respiratory failure
• Inhaled nitric oxide—for cardiac and pulmonary patients with persistent hypertension, respiratory distress, aspiration syndrome, pneumonia, sepsis, or congenital diaphragmatic hernia

Experienced Multidisciplinary Team

The neonatology team includes experienced neonatal nurses, respiratory therapists, and neonatologists whose expertise distinguishes them in the field. In addition, the multi-disciplinary team of experts involved in each child’s case may include pulmonologists, intensivists, cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, endocrinologists, radiologists and others.  All work together as a team, focused on delivering the best treatment plan for each infant.

An attending physician or senior neonatal nurse practitioner manages the intermediate care area.  Because MassGeneral Hospital for Children is a Harvard-affiliated teaching hospital, ICU fellows, residents, and nursing students may be on the unit as well helping with patient care.  They are overseen by an attending physician.

Family Focused Care

Parents can rest assured that every comfort and convenience has been added to ensure their experience is made easier while their child is in the NICU. Parents are welcome in the unit at any time. There is dedicated parent space at each infant’s bedside and parents may remain at their infant’s bedside throughout the night. Computer stations are available with Internet and email access. Healthy siblings are welcome to visit as well; a fish tank and children’s reading area are located in the NICU for their enjoyment.

A dedicated social worker help parents cope with the ongoing medical needs and support required when their baby is discharged.  Support and parent advocacy groups and educational programs are available. 

Ongoing Research Ensures State-of-the-Art Treatment

Ongoing clinical research programs are underway at MassGeneral Hospital for Children.  These programs help advance the practice of pediatric medicine.  Parents may be asked if they’d like their child to get involved.  Participation is voluntary.  Parents should talk to their child’s caregiver for more information.

For Physicians:  Referrals and Consultation Services

Referring pediatricians and specialists who seek a consultation or second opinion from a MassGeneral Hospital for Children neonatologist or intensivist are invited to contact the Newborn Intensive Care Unit twenty-four hours a day at 617-724-HELP. Referrals may be made by calling the unit directly.