Our NICU
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is located on the 6th, 7th, and 8th floors of University Health Women’s and Children’s Hospital and can accommodate up to 83 infants. Over 4,500 newborns are delivered annually at University Hospital with approximately 1000 admissions to the NICU. University Hospital has been designated as a Level IV neonatal intensive care unit by the Texas Department of State Health Services. Level IV signifies the highest level of care available for premature and sick babies. The American Academy of Pediatrics surveyed our NICU and found no deficiencies for the level IV NICU designation. Additionally, our hospital is San Antonio’s only health system recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of America’s Best Hospitals.
Our State-of-the-Art NICU
Sick and premature babies can be medically complex and require special care. University Hospital has a highly-skilled team of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals ready to provide you and your baby with expert medical care.
Our NICU Includes:
- Neonatologists, doctors trained to care for premature and sick newborns, present in the hospital 24 hours per day
- Nurse practitioners and physician assistants with specialized expertise in caring for newborns
- Neonatal transport team available 24/7
- Comprehensive team of pediatric medical subspecialists available 24/7
- Surgical subspecialists with advanced training pediatric surgery, ENT, urology, orthopedics, neurosurgery, and congenital cardiothoracic surgery
- Dedicated NICU pharmacists
- Neonatal dietary and nutrition team
- Neonatal physical, occupational, and speech therapists
- Child life specialists
- Lactation consultant and a breast pump depot
- Award winning team of respiratory therapists (2024 Apex Award)
- Trained staff for counseling, pastoral care, financial and travel assistance, and much more
- Dedicated family support specialist
- Multidisciplinary complex care team to facilitate expert inpatient and outpatient care for our technology dependent patients
Our NICU offers 24/7 access to parents and family members:
- Private rooms with pull-out bed allow families to spend night with their baby if desired
- If unable to be at bedside, parents can remotely see their infant from home or work via secure cameras known as Angel Eye.
After graduation from our NICU we have continued services to support you and your baby
- The mission of the PREMIEre Program is to ensure infants with complex medical conditions and developmental challenges due to prematurity, catastrophic illness at birth, or environmental factors are evaluated for growth, neurological, and developmental abnormalities in an intense care-coordinated program with developmental testing, appropriate interventions, and family education.
