A veteran of the

Facility expanded its neonatal intensive care unit, has private rooms

Central Florida regional spelling bee finally wins and will go to Washington, D.C., to compete in the national tourney.

When Dr. Rajan Wadhawan started his career in neonatology 20 years ago, most NICUs were designed as open spaces that could hold several incubators for sick and premature babies so doctors and nurses could keep a watchful eye on them.

Having a private patient room in the neonatal intensive care unit was a foreign concept at that time, said Wadhawan, chief medical officer and medical director of neonatology at Florida Hospital for Children.

But Wednesday, he stood in a spacious private NICU room at Florida Hospital for Children, furnished with a newborn incubator; two chairs, one of which turns into a bed; a breast pump and milk warmer for mom; and technology that allows doctors to make virtual visits and alerts nurses when there’s a change in the baby’s vital signs.

“This is the best unit that I’ve ever worked in,” Wadhawan said.

On Tuesday, the hospital is opening its new 102-bed Level III NICU, which takes up two floors of Florida Hospital for Women.

The new unit expands the hospital’s 81-bed NICU and upgrades its technology.

The expansion and upgrade at Florida Hospital is part of a nationwide trend.

NICUs are moving from the open-space concept to private room design and many are expanding in response to a growing need for high-level NICUs.

In Florida, Level III is the highest level NICU, on a scale where Level I is the nursery for healthy newborns.

Extremely premature babies can now survive thanks to advancements in technologies and medical expertise, said Dr. Caroline Chua, medical director of Nemours Children’s Hospital’s NICU.

Meanwhile, research in patient safety and developmental sciences has shown that newborns, especially premature babies, do better in private spaces compared with high-traffic shared areas.

“Neurologically, [babies] still want to be in the womb, so you want to be able to control their environment,” said Rebekah Jacoby, assistant nurse manager at Florida Hospital for Children.

“We can control the lighting, families can have privacy and be with their baby more and that helps them grow faster, they do better overall and they go home earlier,” said Jacoby, who was helping to put finishing touches to the new unit.

On Tuesday, at least 80 tiny babies and their families will be moved over from the old unit, which is more than 30 years old and is about a 15-minute walk at Florida Hospital for Children next door.

That unit will be closed and redesigned for other purposes, hospital officials said.

“Overall, this is going to be great for our babies,” Jacoby said.

By the end of this year, Florida Hospital for Children is adding 32 Level II NICU beds in its other Central Florida hospitals in Winter Park, Celebration and Altamonte Springs.

The new NICU has a simulation training area, which will serve as the training hub for other units.

Nemours is planning to add eight NICU beds to its 10-bed Level III unit, which has been operating at capacity, said Chua.

Orlando Health’s Winnie Palmer Hospital is also a Level III NICU and has 142 semi-private rooms.