Intensive Care Unit

850 Annual Admission

3,000 Deliveries Each Year

72 Beds with CCHD, NO, ECMO, HFOV, CDH

The 52-bed Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at UF Health expanded to 72 beds with a major renovation, completed in April 2017. This expansion better serves Florida’s most fragile patients and links these patients with pediatric and surgical specialists in all clinical areas. Shands-UF NICU is a member of the State of Florida Regional Perinatal Intensive Care Centers (RPICC) and serves as a referral base for North Central Florida, the Florida Panhandle, and surrounding areas of Georgia. We are one of the few Genetic referral centers and a regional cooling center in the State.

Each year, we support nearly 3000 deliveries and 850 admissions (~500 inborn) of all gestational ages (range 22-42 weeks) and provide care for all surgical diagnoses including complex congenital heart disease and congenital diaphragmatic hernia.  Neonatology faculty are integral in the newly developed Maternal-Fetal Care Program, a multidisciplinary clinical program for prenatal clinical management. This clinic aligns the clinical expertise of Neonatology, Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Pediatric Surgery, Pediatric Cardiology, and other pediatric sub-specialties to develop comprehensive planning and counseling of families with pregnancies complicated by congenital anomalies.

Team rounds are multi-disciplinary and include a dedicated neonatal pharmacist and nutritionist. UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital is nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report in 10 pediatric specialties. Our faculty members are proficient in the use of nitric oxide (NO), Extracorporeal Life Support (ECLS, ECMO), and high-frequency ventilation to provide state-of-the-art care. Therapeutic hypothermia is used to treat 18-25 patients annually in our NICU and using we have been a leader of this treatment in Florida. Transport of out-born infants referred to UF Health is provided by ShandsCair, a state-of-the-art regional transport team, including neonatal specialists, that provides crucial stabilization and intensive care services (including NO and prostaglandin infusions) during inter-hospital transports using helicopters, a fixed-wing jet, and multiple ground ambulances.