Quality Reports - Neonatology
Survival - Low Birth Weight
Why we measure it - Overwhelmingly, survival is the first and most important statistic parents and others ask about. We measure survival for a number of diagnoses and compare ourselves to the national average to make sure we are providing excellent care.
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Patient Impact
Addyson Gibowski was born 6 1/2 weeks prematurely weighing 3 pounds 10.5 ounces. She was diagnosed in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit with tracheoesophageal fistula - her trachea was not connected to her stomach - and a small tracheoesophageal atresia was present - an abnormal opening between her trachea and esophagus. She underwent surgery to correct these problems and stayed in the NICU for three months. Addyson is now at home growing like a normal, healthy baby. | What this means - In 2008, the Children's Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit had the same survival rate for preemies younger than 3 days old and weighing less than 1,500 grams in comparison to other NICUs.
About the data - The data reflects the survival to discharge for low-birth-weight infants at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin compared to other Neonatal Intensive Care Units as indicated in the Vermont Oxford Dictionary. Vermont Oxford is a non-profit voluntary collaboration of more than 700 NICUs around the world. Its database provides unique, reliable and confidential data about the care and outcomes of high-risk newborns.
Related dimensions of care:
  
What we're doing to provide the best care:
- Through our Fetal Concerns Program, we can diagnose most heart defects in unborn babies and offer counseling and coordinated medical care for mother and baby. This allows families and staff time to anticipate needs and plan care, which improves the care provided at birth.
- The Froedtert & Medical College Birth Center is located inside Children's Hospital to reduce the time it takes to get a fragile newborn into surgery. Research shows outcomes improve when the delivery room and operating room are close together. This also offers families the added convenience of having mother and baby hospitalized near one another.
- We have a highly specialized Children's Transport Team available 24 hours a day to stabilize and transport critically ill infants to our center. More than 1,500 transports are provided each year. A team highly experienced in neonatal resuscitation and stabilization provides intensive-care-unit-level care during transports. Nurses who attend transports have expanded skills and training that allows them to care for critically ill infants from the time of delivery until arrival at Children's Hospital.
- Children's Hospital of Wisconsin has the only Level 3C Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in the state, the highest level acknowledged by the American Academy of Pediatrics, capable of caring for any newborn regardless of diagnosis.
- The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is connected to the operating rooms to ensure we can transport critically ill newborns in need of surgery as quickly as easily as possible.
- Neonates receive speech, physical and occupational therapy while in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to make sure they learn how to grab, hold, suck, swallow and eat - skills even the sickest babies need to develop normally.
- Children's Hospital has five lactation consultants who are registered nurses and highly trained to help mothers and babies overcome feeding difficulties, even when infants have diagnoses that make breastfeeding difficult.
- We offer a special long-term follow-up clinic for neonatology patients to identify any problems as early as possible and provide support as necessary.
Patients/families:
- Be an advocate for your child. Participate in daily bedside clinical discussions, and provide any information about your child that may be helpful to staff.
- Follow medical instructions fully and carefully.
- Ask questions if you don't understand the plan of care or if you are not sure how to care for your child.
- Attend any and all follow-up appointments.
If you have questions about this data or information, e-mail us or call (414) 266-6726.
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