{"id":13092,"date":"2016-09-02T17:35:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-02T21:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pededu\/fellowships\/neonatal-perinatal\/clinical-resources\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T11:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:34:13","slug":"clinical-resources","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pediatrics\/education\/fellowships\/neonatal-perinatal\/training-curriculum\/clinical-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"Training Sites"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"UNC<\/p>\n

UNC Hospitals<\/h3>\n

UNC Hospitals<\/a> is the consortium of hospitals associated with the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. The main campus includes the North Carolina Memorial Hospital, North Carolina Children\u2019s Hospital, North Carolina Cancer Hospital, North Carolina Women\u2019s Hospital and North Carolina Neurosciences Hospital. Attending staff are all members of the School of Medicine\u2019s teaching faculty.<\/p>\n

Newborn Critical Care Center<\/h3>\n

The Newborn Critical Care Center<\/a> has a capacity of 77 beds of which up to 65 are designed for ventilated or critically ill infants. Approximately 90 infants are admitted to the NCCC per month. About 80 percent of these are born in UNC Hospitals. The remainder are referred from over 50 counties across North Carolina.<\/p>\n

Approximately 20 percent of admitted infants weigh less than 1500 grams and about 10 percent weigh less than 1000 grams. About 50 babies per year are 22-25 weeks gestational age at birth. Babies born under 29 weeks GA are admitted to the “Tiny Tarheels Unit” – our small baby unit. Our clinicians encounter a broad spectrum of other neonatal problems, including a large number of infants per year with congenital heart disease and infants requiring major surgical and subspecialty surgical procedures. Preoperative care of cardiac surgery patients and pre- and post-operative care of other surgical patients is the primary responsibility of the neonatal staff with appropriate consultation by the surgical staff.<\/p>\n

Obstetrical Service<\/h3>\n

Approximately 4300 babies are delivered each year at the North Carolina Women\u2019s Hospital on the UNC medical campus. These represent an extraordinarily high-risk population because a large proportion of mothers are referred with obstetrical complications. Historically, about one-fifth of these infants have low birth weight, and one-fifth are admitted to the Newborn Critical Care Center. The Maternal-Fetal Medicine Division is well known for diagnostic fetal ultrasound and invasive fetal interventional therapy. Delivery room facilities are located adjacent to the Newborn Critical Care Center.<\/p>\n

UNC Center for Maternal and Infant Health<\/h3>\n

The UNC Collaborative<\/a> for Maternal and Infant Health is dedicated to improving the health status of North Carolina\u2019s women and infants through clinical services, outreach, education, and research. The UNC Collaborative<\/a> for Maternal and Infant Health coordinates treatments for a wide variety of health problems for mother and infant, including infants with birth defects like spina bifida, cleft palate and heart defects; infants with high-risk medical conditions; and pregnant women with fetal anomalies.<\/p>\n

The UNC Collaborative<\/a> for Maternal and Infant Health brings together all of their expertise and focuses it on each patient’s special medical needs. This includes a care coordinator for each patient and team conferences to discuss medical findings, develop a treatment plan and provide a prognosis. The team includes sub-specialists from a wide range of disciplines in maternal-fetal medicine, pediatrics, surgery, physical medicine and rehabilitation, nursing, social work and pastoral care. The UNC Center for Maternal and Infant Health brings together all of their expertise and focuses it on each patient\u2019s special medical needs.<\/p>\n

Newborn Nursery<\/h3>\n

Full-term, normal birth weight infants are admitted to the Newborn Nursery. Responsibility for patient care and teaching in this unit is under the Division of Community Pediatrics. NPM fellows provide consultation services and are involved with joint QI activities and guideline development for this unit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Infant Transport Team<\/h3>\n

Carolina Air Care is a CAMTS accredited critical care and emergency transportation agency serving North Carolina and surrounding states. Our dedicated Neonatal and Pediatric transport team was established in 1986 performs over 1000 mission per year. The teams now operate out of bases at Burlington and Goldsboro airports with helicopters, and a base in Raleigh with a specialized pediatric ambulance to facilitate back transports. The teams are co-located at Burlington and Goldsboro airports with helicopters and in Raleigh with a specialized pediatric ambulance to facilitate back transports.<\/p>\n

The Team is comprised of a pediatric nurse and respiratory therapist during air and ground transports, with the addition of an EMT or paramedic during ambulance transports. All team members have extensive experience and training in neonatal and pediatric critical care and are proficient at complex skills including intubation of ELBW infants, umbilical line placement and central arterial blood pressure monitoring and chest tube placement. In addition, our team can provide high frequency ventilation with iNO during transport and therapeutic hypothermia for infants with neonatal encephalopathy.<\/p>\n

Special Infant Care Clinic<\/h3>\n

Selected high-risk infants return to the Special Infant Care Clinic<\/a>. These include graduates of the NCCC as well as infants with congenital heart disease and post-ECMO infants. Emphasis is placed on developmental evaluation and intervention programs for infants with developmental delays or those at risk for delays. The clinic team includes physicians, nursing staff, social workers, physical therapists, a speech pathologist and a nutritionist. Other medical specialties are available for consultation.<\/p>\n

Children are generally followed for a period of two years in coordination with the infant\u2019s local physician or Public Health Department. Long-term follow-up for those with handicaps is arranged with appropriate medical specialists or developmental intervention groups.<\/p>\n

Subspecialty Support<\/h3>\n

Pediatric subspecialty support is available in the following areas:<\/p>\n