Our nurseries accommodate healthy term newborns as well as those neonates who are critically ill, or require a higher degree of care.
Intensive Care Nursery (ICN)
The intensive Care Nursery (ICN) is a 30-bed tertiary intensive care unit for newborns. It is the only unit of its kind in New Hampshire. There are approximately 1,200 deliveries annually with about 400 admissions to the ICN.
In addition to neonates born at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, a well-developed referral and transport service brings approximately 180 premature or critically ill neonates. Mothers with complicated pregnancies are admitted to the adjacent Birthing Pavilion and the Normal Nursery.
Residents do a total of four rotations during their residency: the first in the second half of intern year, two as a second-year resident, and their final rotation in the first half of their third year.
Newborn Nursery
Residents rotate through the Newborn Nursery four weeks in their first year and two weeks in their second year.
Residents act as primary providers for all babies admitted to the Newborn Nursery, serving as Nursery team leader, seeing babies independently and with attending physicians in the mornings.
Residents generally supervise one to two medical students per week. The Nursery team works closely with nurses, lactation, and care management.
There is a great case mix of healthy term newborns to care of high risk families, substance-exposed infants, late preterm gestation, SGA, jaundice, infection risk, infants of mothers with diabetes, congenital anomalies, etc. Varied rotational experiences include circumcisions, attendance at two community parenting support groups, attendance at deliveries, lactation consultations.