Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Team
Our neonatal nurse practitioner (NNP) team works collaboratively with the attending neonatologists. The nurse practitioner team makes workflow (rounds) highly efficient so attending physicians can spend more time with families and students. Having such a stable NNP team provides continuity of safety and best practices for best outcomes over a period of months and years. Some of our NNPs have or are working toward doctorate degrees. Those with experience and advanced academic degree act as faculty members to teach neonatal fellows, pediatric residents, medical students and NNP students. They also play a critical role in simulation education and transport of critically ill babies from regional hospitals. Besides PubMed, their publications can be found on CINAHAL Plus.
Neonatal Transport Team
For babies born at level I, II and III hospitals in our region who need Regional Perinatal Center- level intensive care, a dedicated neonatal team with specialized equipment is available 24/7. Our state-of-the-art transport incubators include the ability to deliver nitric oxide for newborns with severe hypoxic respiratory failure.
Neonatal Follow-up Program
Because many of our NICU graduates need further medical care and close observation after discharge, we have an outpatient follow-up program every Monday afternoon. All high-risk patients are seen regularly to ensure continued developmental progress and appropriate interventions to keep them on track. Our NICU High Risk Clinic is located a few minutes away from the hospital at 4 Smith Haven Mall, Suite 101 in Lake Grove. Appointments are scheduled at the time of discharge and through (631) 444-KIDS.
Neonatal Infant Apnea Program
The Infant Apnea Program at Stony Brook Children’s is the only center on Long Island that provides evaluation, testing, education and support for families with the following:
- Apnea of prematurity
- Apnea of infancy
- Infants who have experienced an apparent life-threatening event (ALTE)
- Infants with breathing disorders
- Siblings of SIDS victims
- Home cardiorespiratory monitoring
Phone: (631) 444-3783
Fax: (631) 444-9363
For Appointments: (631) 444-KIDS
Whole Body Cooling
When a newborn premature or full-term baby is diagnosed with Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE), a brain injury caused by lack of oxygen, it can result in life-long problems and even death. But, when a special treatment called Therapeutic Hypothermia, using Whole Body Cooling, is started very soon after birth, damage can be reduced and there can be better outcomes for the infant. The treatment, which involves reducing the infant’s temperature for 72 hours, has been shown to prevent further damage and promote healing.
Stony Brook is the only regional center in Suffolk County that offers this proven treatment.
Immunization of Newborn Close Contacts
Stony Brook is the first academic hospital in New York State to publish work describing the feasibility of immunizing parents of NICU graduates for pertussis (whooping cough), which is a growing problem in the United States due to waning of antibody protection from childhood in parents. Pertussis, like influenza or respiratory syncytial viral infection, can lead to extreme illness, especially in a NICU graduate who had a previous lung disorder. In the Stony Brook study, immunization of the parents occurred before or at discharge of their baby. As a result of Stony Brook’s lead, New York State has passed a law that promotes pertussis immunization to parents of NICU graduates.