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St. David's Medical Center Launches “Baby Matters” Nurse Navigator Service, Designed to Care for Infants Needing Special Medical Care and Their Mothers

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

AUSTIN, Texas—St. David’s Medical Center recently launched its new “Baby Matters” Nurse Navigator service, designed to help mothers of high-risk infants prepare for their baby’s stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

“Every baby matters, and every life that begins or is nurtured at St. David’s Medical Center is precious,” Rhonda Sageser, director of the Level III NICU at St. David’s Medical Center, said. “While we hope that every baby is born healthy, occasionally, infants need special medical attention, and this service helps families prepare for those circumstances.”

Expectant mothers whose infants may require NICU care—due to medical conditions requiring surgery or prematurity—are referred to St. David’s Medical Center by their physicians before the baby is born. A Nurse Navigator then connects with the patient and her family to coordinate a visit to St. David’s Medical Center’s NICU, its maternity areas and a face-to-face consultation with a board-certified neonatologist regarding the care and expectations for their infant after birth.

In addition to familiarizing patients and their families with St. David’s Medical Center, the program aims to dispel fears, encourage informed decision making, and increase parents’ understanding of the NICU while guiding them through this unique and often difficult experience.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, delivery of a high-risk infant should be planned to occur in a facility capable of providing the anticipated level of NICU care. St. David’s Medical Center is the only hospital in the Austin area where a mother and her neonate requiring surgery can be cared for in the same facility.

“Since the program launched earlier this year, we have received more than 30 referrals from patients whose infants needed surgical care,” Sageser said. “So far, the feedback from patients and physicians has been overwhelmingly positive.”

St. David’s Medical Center features a 65-bed Level III NICU—the largest in Central Texas—and offers a wide range of services, including neonatal surgical care. The NICU features an in-house team of nurses and board-certified neonatologists, with board-certified pediatric surgeons, anesthesiologists, cardiologists, neurologists, nephrologists and other pediatric subspecialists available around the clock to handle the most complicated cases. Physicians at the NICU at St. David’s Medical Center perform more neonatal surgeries annually than any other facility in the Austin area.

St. David’s Medical Center’s NICU also features an exceptional, bilingual NICU parent education program called “Journeys.” The program is designed to welcome parents and provide them with a basic understanding of the NICU, as well as prepare them for a long-term stay and educate them about caring for their infants after hospital discharge. The program is administered by a team of NICU nurses.

Additionally, St. David’s Medical Center offers infant CPR and special needs classes, which are available to any family taking a baby home with a special need, such as oxygen or a gastrostomy tube or tracheostomy.

Call (512) 544-5189 for more information regarding any Baby Matters service or to schedule a tour.

St. David’s Medical Center
St. David’s Medical Center is part of St. David’s HealthCare, one of the largest health systems in Texas. Founded in 1924, St. David’s Medical Center is a full-service medical center offering comprehensive medical care at three locations—St. David’s Medical Center, located at 919 East 32nd Street in Austin; Heart Hospital of Austin, located at 3801 North Lamar Blvd.; and St. David’s Georgetown Hospital, located in Georgetown at 2000 Scenic Drive. The three campuses offer a full range of medical specialties, as well as many other innovative health care services.

St. David’s Medical Center in central Austin includes a 350-bed acute care hospital and a freestanding, 64-bed rehabilitation hospital providing comprehensive inpatient and outpatient care. St. David’s Medical Center is home to the internationally acclaimed Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute; NeuroTexas Institute (including the TIA Center for Stroke Prevention and designation as a Primary Stroke Center); complete range of women's services, including its acclaimed maternity unit, maternal fetal medicine, the region’s largest and most sophisticated Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, The Breast Center, and a fertility center; complex surgical services; a Bariatric Center of Excellence; and a 24-hour emergency department.

In 2011, for the second consecutive year, St. David’s Medical Center was named to the list of 100 Top Hospitals by Thomson Reuters, a leading provider of information and solutions to improve the cost and quality of health care. St. David’s Medical Center was the only hospital in Central Texas to be included on the list. For more information, please visit StDavids.com.