Growing and leading: Florida Hospital's neonatal network

For more than 30 years, Florida Hospital’s Level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) program has offered the highest level of care available to preterm and critically ill babies, serving more than 2,200 patients last year alone from across the region. Now, it is one of the largest neonatal networks in the state. The program consists of more than 30 neonatal providers, a nursing staff of more than 350 and a dedicated neonatal transport team. These services are complemented by a team of five, maternal-fetal medicine specialists.

Florida Hospital’s 150-bed neonatal network of care now stretches across Central Florida. In addition to Florida Hospital for Children, we offer level II NICU care at Winter Park Memorial Hospital, Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Florida Hospital Celebration Health and Florida Hospital Altamonte.

The recently expanded Level III NICU at Florida Hospital for Women includes 95 private rooms, a three-bed room for triplets, an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) room to provide critical heart and lung care, and four transitional rooms. These include a set of rooms for twin newborns on each of the three NICU floors. The flagship NICU is supported by an ECMO program that has been awarded the ELSO (Extracorporeal Life Support Organization) Center Pathway to Excellence – Silver Level award.

Throughout the network, on-site simulation training is available to enhance the team’s capabilities. This vast network of care allows parents to stay close to home while their child receives critical care.

One of many milestones for the Florida Hospital for Children NICU Network in 2017 was partnering with Dräger Medical to bring some of the latest neonatal innovation to Central Florida. Dräger’s Babyleo TN500 IncuWarmer was rolled out to neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) across the Florida Hospital system in its first commercial use in the United States.

All of this technology has the net effect of helping premature babies stay healthy, bond with their parents and go home sooner.

Another innovation that will be available starting this year at Florida Hospital for Children’s NICU is “e-NICU,” a system that will allow neonatologists and other clinicians to remotely provide care in a patient’s room through two-way video. This technology will keep specialized care only a video call away, enhancing safety for patients and connectivity for the medical team. Florida Hospital for Children’s NICU clinicians also utilize a state-of-the-art alerting technology whereby bedside alarms are routed to their phones, giving them an early warning about an impending decompensation in an infant’s condition.

All of this technological innovation, combined with a highly skilled and dedicated team of physicians, nurses and other clinicians, makes Florida Hospital for Children uniquely positioned to provide exceptional care to fragile newborn babies.

Our Locations

• Florida Hospital Altamonte

• Florida Hospital Celebration Health

• Florida Hospital Orlando (Level III)

• Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center

• Winter Park Memorial Hospital