Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center -- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center has 15 beds and provides care for critically ill preterm and term neonates. As there are around 5000 deliveries annually at this hospital, the NICU is a busy place. Many high-risk pregnancies are delivered by maternal-fetal specialists and obstetricians working at the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center and/or at the Institute for Maternal - Fetal Health. The wide range of complexity of pregnancies results in the admission of neonates to the NICU with a wide variety of conditions. Accordingly, there are patients who have conditions with lower complexity and severity such as transient tachypnea of the newborn or mild respiratory distress syndrome, while others may present with more complex medical problems such as extreme prematurity and its complications, moderate-to-severe respiratory distress syndrome, meconium aspiration syndrome with or without persistent pulmonary hypertension, or sepsis syndrome. As for the patients of the Institute for Maternal and Fetal Health delivered at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, the list of diagnoses ranges from congenital abnormalities of the heart, lungs, nervous system, gastrointestinal and/or urogenital tract to arteriovenous malformations, metabolic, hematologic and genetic syndromes and tumors. These conditions are often identified prenatally through the Institute's comprehensive prenatal diagnosis program. Such babies are stabilized by USC/CHLA faculty neonatologists in the delivery suite and/or the NICU at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center and, when indicated, transferred next door to the Center for Newborn and Infant Critical Care at the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles for subspecialty treatment provided by neonatologists, general pediatric surgeons, neurosurgeons, cardiothoracic surgeons, pediatric otolaryngologists, pediatric urologists, geneticists, and pediatric endocrinologists, pulmonologists, hematologists/oncologists and many others.

As of June 1, 2004, the USC Division of Neonatal Medicine has been responsible for providing medical service in this NICU, with Dr. Shahab Noori receiving the appointment as its Medical Director. With the divisional neonatologists working both at this NICU and at CHLA's Center for Newborn and Infant Critical Care, a continuity of care is assured in a state-of-the-art clinical setting. In addition, the medical operations are built on an academic model with neonatology attending staff, neonatology fellows and CHLA pediatric residents providing 24 hour service for the patients in the NICU at Hollywood Presbyterian. The medical team works in close collaboration with the dedicated nursing, respiratory therapy, pharmacy, occupational therapy and ancillary staff within the hospital. Finally, with the busy obstetrical services located there, a solid experience in neonatal resuscitation and the treatment of neonatal diseases is being provided to all trainees rotating through the unit.