Special care nursery

Team Composition

Throughout your experience in the special care nursery, you may be supported by:

• Nurse Unit Manager, who is in charge of the unit
• Associate Nurse Unit Manager, who organises each shift within the unit
• Clinical Nurse Specialist, who is an expert in their field
• registered nurses, midwives and mothercraft nurses who all specialise in caring for premature and sick newborn babies
• care manager, who organises resources and support services for babies with more complex needs
• discharge coordinator, who organises your baby’s discharge from the nursery. This may include contacting hospitals closer to your home.
• consultant/neonatologist/paediatrician who are senior doctors with special qualifications and advanced training in caring for newborn babies
• fellows and registrars, who are qualified doctors who are training to become paediatricians. There is at least one consultant, fellow and registrar in the unit, 24 hours a day.
• interpreter, who can translate information for families whose second language is English
• lactation consultant, who can give you breastfeeding advice, support and help. They are available on weekdays
• dietitian, who can help your baby get the calories and additives they need to grow
• ophthalmologist: this is a doctor who specialises in diagnosing and treating eye problems
• pastoral carer, who offers spiritual and emotional support. They can offer prayer, blessings or the sacramental ministry of baptism when it is requested for a baby. They offer support to all parents, no matter what religious or cultural beliefs you hold.
• physiotherapist, who assesses and creates programs for babies with developmental difficulties. They can also help with movement or muscle tone problems. Physiotherapists can teach parents about baby massage and handling your baby.
• speech therapist, who can help assess and treat babies who have problems feeding and swallowing
• social worker, who can help parents with practical problems and give them emotional support while their baby is in the nursery. They can help rural families find longer-term accommodation closer to the hospital and provide travel assistance. They can help link parents to community support groups in your local area before you take your baby home.
• ward clerk, who looks after the administrative aspects of the nursery and can help you with hiring breast pumps, car parking vouchers and any other administrative aspects of your baby’s care. They are located near the lifts on level 2.
• Clinical Nurse Educator: as a teaching hospital, they educate all staff in the nursery to ensure safe and effective, high-quality care
• clinical support nurse, who supports staff in the clinical area to ensure safe and quality care.

What questions should you ask

We welcome parents to come to the Special Care Nursery, ask questions or call at any time of the day or night. We do not think of parents as visitors and we encourage you to spend as much time as possible with your baby.

Discharge information

Premature babies are usually ready to go home around the time they reach full term, although this varies from baby to baby. Some premature babies may stay beyond their due date.

There is no special weight that babies must reach to be able to go home, but your baby must be feeding well and gaining weight, and you must be confident in giving your baby the care they need.

For babies born with problems at term, their length of stay in hospital depends on the nature of the problems.

Mercy Hospital for Women is a hospital for high-risk infants who need specialist care. Due to statewide demands we may need to move your baby to a local special care nursery closer to your home. This creates space for other babies who need to be in hospital for intensive care or specialist treatment. We make the decision to transfer your baby to a local nursery in your family’s best interest. It is a positive and exciting step towards getting your baby ready to be discharged home. Where possible, babies are transferred to hospitals where their birth was booked. Babies are transferred by the Paediatric Infant Perinatal Emergency Retrieval (PIPER) service. All babies are tended to by a trained neonatal transport nurse. Our discharge coordinators will explain the transfer process.

Additional support

Some babies who are ready to leave the hospital will be transferred to our Hospital in the Home (HITH) program. In this case, your baby will still be a patient of Mercy Hospital for Women, but the medical team has decided your baby is ready to be cared for at home. If your baby is transferred to Hospital In The Home, one of our nurses or midwives will visit you within 48 hours of leaving the hospital. Hospital in the Home will ring the morning of the visit to confirm.

Once your baby is discharged from the Hospital in the Home program, your local Maternal and Child Health Nurse will contact you to make an appointment to see your baby at home.

Opportunities to be involved in research

Yes

Who to call if you have concerns afterwards

While your baby is in the Hospital in the Home program, parents can call 03 8458 4466 from 7am–4.30pm with any questions or concerns.

After hours, parents can phone the Special Care Nursery on 03 8458 4730.