The Ahmanson Pediatric Center's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Cedars-Sinai is a 45-bed, state-of-the-art facility designed to address the needs of critically ill babies, premature newborns or infants requiring close observation.

Of the 7,500 babies delivered at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center each year, 750 are admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Beds are always available to babies born at Cedars-Sinai who need neonatal intensive care services.

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Cedars-Sinai is a designated California Children's Services Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Because the Cedars-Sinai Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is a Level 3C provider of newborn services, babies never need to be transported out of the medical center for a higher level of care.

Infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Cedars-Sinai have 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week access to in-house neonatologists. All Cedars-Sinai neonatologists are board-certified specialists who have met the requirements of education, training and experience to care for California Children's Services patients. The unit provides access to consultants, surgeons and support services that allow treatment across the full range of neonatal problems. It provides four levels of care including:

• Intensive
• Intermediate
• Isolation
• Continuing care

The NICU is equipped with the latest technology and offers the most modern treatment modalities to provide the highest level of care. All high-risk infants are followed up after their discharge from the unit.

Specific quality of care measures at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Cedars-Sinai are described below. To learn more about how patient families evaluated their experience at the Cedars-Sinai Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, click here.

The table below shows how Cedars-Sinai's neonatal mortality rate compares with that of other Neonatal Intensive Care Units across the nation. The national data was collected in 2004 and reported in the February 2007 issue of Pediatrics.

A lower percentage is better than a higher one.

Babies who weigh between 501 to 1,500 grams (about 1.1 to 3.5 pounds) at birth have special challenges that must be overcome if they are to survive. The following table shows factors that are measured to determine the quality of care provided to very low birth weight babies.

A low percentage is better than a high percentage.