The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Mercy Medical Center is a Level IIIB unit providing care to infants greater than 23 weeks gestation. Our patient and family centered care model involves the parents in the direct care of their infant and also incorporates the family in the plan of care. Infants have a variety of non-surgical care needs including gastro-intestinal, cardiac, and neurological.  

The NICU has implemented the Golden Hour Program which is similar to many other trauma centers across the U.S. The Golden Hour Program focuses on providing a consistent approach to the management and resuscitation of the most high-risk neonatal population through the first hour of life. This program is a collaborative effort between the Labor and Delivery and NICU multi-disciplinary teams with the ultimate goal of improving their long-term outcomes of infants < 32  through the provision of thermal stability and decreasing the incidence of retinopathy of prematurity and chronic lung disease, and shortening their length of stay. 

The collaborative NICU team includes nurses, support staff, clinical nurse educator, neonatologists, nurse practitioners, nutrition services, social workers, and pastoral care. Recent innovative technology advancements include a bar-coded breast milk system to ensure the right breast milk is given to the right infant when mothers provide breast milk for their child.