Neonatology Outcomes
The Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital is nationally recognized for the care of babies with complex medical conditions. Being a Level IV unit means we provide the most acute care, at the highest level. This translates to a robust team of expert doctors and specialists who are adept at the surgical repair of complex congenital or acquired conditions. Our hospital provides a full spectrum of pediatric medical and surgical sub-specialties, as well as pediatric anesthesiologists on site.
Our team has 20 board-certified SLUCare Physician Group neonatologists as well as a dedicated, specially trained team of pediatric specialists, neonatal fellows and more than 200 nurses and 40 nurse practitioners. Because of their outstanding care and research, SSM Health Cardinal Glennon is an accredited Center of Excellence for Extra Corporal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO).
The division oversees the Level IV Dana Brown Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, a 65-bed unit with all-private rooms (the only all-private NICU available to families in St. Louis). Our NICU provides special accommodations to families of twins so the twin babies can remain in the same room, ideal for bonding and family convenience.
National Recognition
Each year, SSM Health Cardinal Glennon actively participates in a number of benchmarking collaborative and data sharing organizations which guide our quality initiatives and allow for benchmarking with similar NICUs to improve key outcome measures. These organizations include:
- The Illinois Perinatal Collaborative
- Perinatal Quality Collaborative North Carolina
- Solutions for Patient Safety
- Vermont Oxford Data
Additionally, SSM Health Cardinal Glennon has been recognized as a Center for Excellence in Education and Training by Vermont Oxford Data.
SSM Health Cardinal Glennon St. Louis Fetal Care Institute
As one of the nation’s top fetal surgery and care centers, the SSM Health Cardinal Glennon St. Louis Fetal Care Institute has the knowledge, experience and compassion to handle everything from common prenatal conditions that require consistent monitoring to rare fetal diagnoses that require fetal surgery.
Many of the babies seen at the St. Louis Fetal Care Institute are monitored by SLUCare neonatologists and pediatric specialists at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon before they even enter the world. This insight provides our physicians with the knowledge and background to provide the highest level of care at delivery and beyond. Families who visit the St. Louis Fetal Care Institute also tour the NICU and meet the neonatology team to learn what to expect and to help them prepare for life after their baby is born. This service provides a continuum of care from fetus to postnatal life and beyond.
Neonatal Care Where You Are
The division provides neonatology services at several regional hospitals. We were the first to offer a telemedicine program, reaching more than 20 hospitals in St. Louis, Missouri and Southern Illinois. This technology allows the hospitals to immediately connect with a SLUCare neonatologist for consultative services or assistance in the emergency transport of infants to SSM Health Cardinal Glennon.
The specially trained neonatal transport team is available 24/7 to stabilize and transport critically ill newborns from around the region to the Level IV NICU. A registered nurse and respiratory therapist/paramedic, both with extensive training in the stabilization, treatment and transport of neonates, staff each transport. Physicians also accompany the transport team when appropriate.