This July, the Children’s Hospital on our UNC Hospitals’ Chapel Hill campus expanded its heelprint. Nestled on the 4th floor of the existing Newborn Critical Care Center (NCCC), the new Tiny Tar Heel Unit groups the hospital’s smallest and most fragile infants into a singular unit, focused on developmental intensive care and support.
“The dedicated space allows us to create an environment that supports the specific neurodevelopmental needs of extremely low birth weight infants,” shared Sarah Croop, Neonatal Nurse Practitioner and Co-Medical Director of the Small Baby Unit. “Evidence suggests that by reducing loud noise, bright light, and other negative stimulation we can protect the developing brain and improve outcomes for these babies.”
Before the Tiny Tar Heel Unit opened, care team members often needed to travel across the NCCC or beyond to care for the patients who needed a specific level of expertise.
“Many other intensive care units have recognized that having a dedicated, expert team of providers deliver consistent care to this vulnerable population can reduce the rates of complications associated with being born prematurely,” explained Dr. Misty Good, Division Chief of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at UNC Hospitals. “By cohorting patients with similar needs in one place, we inherently create a pocket of specialized expertise that benefits these babies.”
As Dr. Andrea Trembath, Co-Medical Director of the Small Baby Unit explained: “This unit-within-a-unit cuts down on the foot traffic as our teammates deliver expert, specialty care that these premature babies need to thrive. In the end, we bolster the level of expertise we can offer these infants simply by bringing this group of patients, families and care teams closer together.”
UNC Hospitals Teammates on the Tiny Tar Heel Unit continue to advance their expertise, and several are working to obtain specialized ELBW-C certification, a nationally recognized training to care for critically ill and extremely low birth weight neonates and their families.
Interested in learning more about the Tiny Tar Heel Unit? Contact Sarah Croop, Dr. Andrea Trembath or Kate Carver.