Rowan Regional Medical Center has added around-the-clock nurse practitioner coverage in its maternity department, creating a higher level of care for premature and other newborns needing critical care.
Neonatal nurse practitioner coverage is now provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A neonatal nurse practitioner is a professional registered nurse with clinical experience in neonatal nursing who has received formal education with supervised clinical experience in the management of sick newborns and their families.
Neonatal nurse practitioners manage a caseload of neonatal babies with consultation, collaboration and general supervision from physicians. The physicians at Salisbury Pediatrics will supervise the neonatal nurse practitioners at Rowan Regional.
Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte will rotate about 20 neonatal nurse practitioners to Rowan so the medical center will have constant coverage. They will attend all Caesarean sections or high-risk deliveries and be available for newborn consults.
“This new level of coverage means that families needing a higher level of care for their newborns can get it in a much quicker time,” said Edwina Ritchie, chief nursing officer for Rowan Regional.
Cora Greene, director of Women’s and Children’s Services at Rowan Regional, said the neonatal nurse practitioners add another level of expertise for the maternity department. “They are experts who are specially trained and certified in neonatal intensive care who can evaluate patients, write orders and perform all nursery procedures,” she said. “We are very excited to have them here at Rowan.”
Also available if needed is Presbyterian’s Neonatal Transport unit stationed in Charlotte, which can transport critically ill infants from Rowan to Presbyterian Hemby Children’s Hospital or wherever the physician and family determines is needed for critical care. The dedicated pediatric transport staff, with specialized equipment in the mobile unit, was the first team in the area created just for children.
“The mobile unit and its special treatment team respond quickly to calls, and intensive care treatment begins immediately upon arrival at the referring hospital,” said Pat Campbell, vice president for Women’s Services at Presbyterian Hospital.