Special Care Nursery

Imagine your newborn son or daughter was born premature or in need of special medical attention that required around-the-clock care in a hospital setting. What if that care were only available across the Bay? Thanks to the Washington Special Care Nursery, parents in the Tri-City Area have rested easy for the past decade knowing specialized local care is available.

Through an affiliation with UCSF Benioff Children's 医院, Washington 医院 operates a nine-bed intermediate intensive care nursery "satellite” providing ongoing care for infants with special needs. UCSF新生儿和 pediatric specialists are now at Washington 医院, providing the finest neonatal and specialty care available.

Leading the team at the Washington Special Care Nursery is UCSF Neonatologist James McGuire, MD, MPH, medical director of the unit.

The unit cares for most premature babies born after less than 37 weeks 怀孕的. For very premature infants, born after less than 34 weeks, the unit provides emergency treatment to stabilize babies before they are transferred to Benioff’s 50-bed Intensive Care Nursery in San 旧金山. As a Level III unit, it has the expertise and technology to treat the smallest, sickest and most fragile babies, who may require surgery or mechanical ventilation. The nursery in San 旧金山 is known to have one of the country’s largest neonatal heart programs.

As the only Level II nursery in the area, one of the main goals of the affiliation between Washington 医院 and UCSF Benioff Children's 医院 has been to provide the best possible care for these very special patients and their families without the added stress of a lengthy commute for parents.