Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU)

A Thirty-Year History of Quality Care

St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital includes Idaho’s first and most experienced Level III Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Our NICU has earned the praise of thousands of grateful parents for providing family-centered, quality care in a technologically advanced environment equivalent to outstanding centers in other children’s hospitals.

At St. Luke’s NICU, a team of experts provides continuous care and life support for infants born early or severely ill. Each year, St. Luke’s NICU cares for nearly 1000 infants from throughout a multi-state region.

St. Luke’s is one of only 16 internationally acclaimed Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP®) training sites worldwide, which means that along with medical treatment, infants at St. Luke’s NICU receive special care that enhances normal development and meets each child’s unique needs.

An Exceptional Staff
Meet our Neonatologists and Neonatal Nurse Practitioners...

Caring for the tiniest of patients is a big job. At St. Luke’s Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) we have a team of professionals that includes board-certified neonatologists, neonatal nurse practitioners, nurses, respiratory therapists, dedicated pharmacists, dietitians, and occupational and physical therapists along with a medical social worker and chaplains—all of whom provide the experience and compassionate care that fragile infants and their families require. Twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year, the St. Luke’s NICU team is dedicated to the delicate physical, emotional, and developmental needs of premature and severely ill infants, some of whom weigh just over one pound. Thanks to these very special people, St. Luke’s NICU has been recognized nationally and internationally for our quality and approach to care.

A Very Special Place

St. Luke’s Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) cares for nearly a thousand premature and ill infants each year, with as many as 60 babies requiring NICU care at any one time. To meet these demands, St. Luke’s features a state-of-the-art NICU. This unit provides semi-private, family-centered and customized rooms that promote bonding and security, as well as lighting and noise controls designed to optimize growth and development of premature infants. The unit is equipped to support up to 66 infants and their families—meeting our region’s need for NICU care for many years to come.

St. Luke’s commitment to fragile newborns includes 24-hour onsite neonatologist coverage. This service enhances patient care as well as communication, coordination and partnership between neonatologists, referring physicians and hospital staff. Our patient medical records system provides a history and physical, weekly summary and discharge summary that is immediately available to the referring physician or consultants.

Medical Transport

Our integrated transport program, Air St. Luke’s, provides safe, rapid and highly skilled transport for high-risk pregnant women as well as premature and severely ill infants. Our specialized teams of respiratory therapists, neonatal and perinatal nurses moved nearly 300 patients this past year via our fully equipped ground, fixed wing and helicopter transport units. We are committed to always providing the safest and most appropriate transport method necessary for the patient's best care. In the neonatal and perinatal setting, our goal is to deliver stabilizing care rapidly, then select the safest method for patient transport. That is why we also provide specialized education to our regional hospitals on initial newborn resuscitation (NRP) and stabilization for transport (STABLE). A high-risk obstetrician and neonatologist are always available for patient consult and to discuss optimal care for those patients requiring transport.

Patient Accommodations

We welcome parents to spend as much time as possible with their newborn children. Privacy and comfort are essential components of our new NICU patient care rooms. In addition, the Ronald McDonald House and Courtyard by Marriott are within walking distance, and offer special rates to families of St. Luke’s neonatal and pediatric patients.