Quality of Care: Neonatal Intensive Care

How to interpret this data: The higher the number, the better. A NICU is considered to be large if it has 15 beds. ACH has a capacity of more than 80, which means it has the experience and resources for providing an excellent level of care for neonates.

Evidence-based hospital referral (EHR) means making sure that patients with high-risk conditions are treated at hospitals with characteristics shown to be associated with better outcomes. EHR could be very effective at preventing unnecessary deaths.

Babies with very low birthweight or major congenital anomalies are much more likely to survive if they are delivered and treated at hospitals with large, neonatal intensive care units (NICU)¹. According to The Leapfrog Group, a "large" NICU is one with an average daily census of 15 or more infants. The average daily census at ACH far exceeds that expectation and is the largest tertiary care nursery in Arkansas with 65 beds and a capacity to care for more than 80 infants.

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¹Phibbs, C.S., Bronstein, J.M., Buxton, E., Phibbs, R.H. The effects of patient volume and level of care at the hospital of birth on neonatal mortality. The Journal of the American Medical Association. 1996. 276:1054-9.

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