Neonatal special care

On this ward we treat children who have a medical condition that requires specialised treatment, such as respiratory distress, sepsis, cardiac and surgical conditions and severe asphyxia.  We also look after newborns who are very small and have a low birthweight, to help them grow healthy and go back home to their family as soon as possible.  
Every year we treat approximately 400 children coming from Liguria and its neighbouring regions.

Babies get to our ward with the regional Emergency Neonatal Transport Service, which brings over 220 newborns to us a year.  This service is made up of specialised staff that has been trained in Critical Newborn Resuscitation and Stabilisation techniques held at different birth centres in Liguria, so that every centre is equipped to care for babies in critical condition swiftly and effectively.

On the ward, we also treat mothers and we help them with breast-feeding, stressing the importance of this practice (following the WHO-UNICEF guidelines)  to promote its diffusion.

We also offer a ‘newborn follow-up’ walk-in clinic in order to monitor babies’ growth and a clinic focussing on babies’ and their mother’s well-being, where again a lot of emphasis is given to breast-feeding.

Dr. Risso, from Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, speaks about the activity and successes of his unit.