Babies who need the TLC of a neonatal intensive care unit will get the benefit of top-notch technology and deliberative design at the new Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center. 

A focal point of the unit, which cares for babies born prematurely and those with serious medical issues, is a new type of bed. Referred to as giraffes because of their ability to change in size as a baby grows, they are the Cadillacs of bassinets, said Sherry Baker, Hillcrest ‘s director of women’s and children’s services. 

One of the main advantages of the giraffes over traditional bassinets is they create a more womb-like environment, Baker said. Staff can configure them to be just a little bigger than the baby.The units also have a lid that can help give babies a secure feeling and keep them warm, she said. 

In addition, the giraffes are equipped with a feature where water can be added to increase humidity inside, Baker said. That’s key because fragile infants tend to have skin prone to drying out, she said. 

Once a baby is well enough, however, the lid can be taken off and the size of the unit can be expanded to give the babies a more traditional environment, Baker said. That flexibility allows babies to stay in the same bed from the time they are born to when they go home, she said. 

Other features of the giraffes include: The beds can be raised to allow medical staff easier access for doing procedures. They can also be lowered to accommodate mothers in wheelchairs. • The sides of the unit can be lowered to allow easier access to the baby without moving him or her. Similarly, there are holes in the sides that staff can open and reach through if they need to access the baby but don’t want to let warm air out by lowering the sides. • The bed surface can be turned. • The units have a built-in scale so babies don’t have to be moved to get weighed. • The beds are equipped with a place where an X-ray cassette can be slid in, allowing images to be captured without having to move the baby.  Hillcrest has had one giraffe for a while. At the new hospital, though, there are 16 of them. 

In all, the NICU has 28 beds, said Sandra Rabbe, nurse manager for the unit. Five are in private rooms. The rest are together in one room. 

The reason most NICU babies are not in private rooms is so nurses can have quick access to them in case of a problem, Baker said. Also, parents often cannot be at the hospital around the clock, so having most of the babies in one room allows nurses to better care for them when parents are gone, she said. 

But that group environment can wear on parents, Baker said, especially when bassinets are in close proximity to each other like they were at the old hospital. That left little personal space for families, whose babies spend an average of two weeks in the hospital. It also increased the risk for the spread of infection, she said. 

To help alleviate those problems, the new NICU uses a pod concept referred to as a pinwheel design. The pods are circular in shape and divided into four areas via partitions. 

Each partitioned area is like a mini-room. It has the baby’s bed, a rocking chair for a caregiver and counter space. A window looks into the next partitioned area, but families can close blinds over those windows if they want more privacy. Each pod also has its own light control, allowing parents to dim the lights whenever they want, Rabbe said. At the old hospital, there was only one light control for the whole unit, she said. 

Besides the pinwheel pods, another important element of the design are features to minimize noise, Baker said. Some fragile babies cannot tolerate much stimulation, so the less noise the better, she said. The flooring and ceiling material is specially designed to absorb noise, Baker said. Also, alarms have been turned down to be as soft as is safe, she said. Elsewhere in the unit, there are two rooms where moms can breastfeed or pump milk for their babies, Baker said. The rooms provide privacy while still allowing babies to stay on monitors just as if they were in their beds, she said. 

Another part of the unit features two “transition” rooms. Set up to look like a typical home bedroom, they allow parents to practice caring for their child before they go home. Parents stay in the room for one or two nights so they can test their ability to do things such as give the baby medication or watch the infant’s cardiac monitor. 

“We really believe this will be nationally recognized,” Hillcrest ‘s chief operating officer Jim Gebhart said of the NICU.