Posted August 25, 201212 yr We are calculating what is the NICU bed requirement for a region. Instead of an arbitrary number, we decided to actually derive this number through scientific calculations. So given a region with a population Y (Eg. Y= 1 million people) with a fertility rate of X live births per 1000, what would be the NICU bed requirement for that region? Of that how many would be NICU-Intensive care beds and how many NICU-Intermediate care beds? I know it seems very hypothetical, but this is an actual problem we are facing and we will submit this to the appropriate authorities to justify our needs. I feel that with a proper scientifically derived requirement, it will be easier to get the help from the administration rather than based on arbitrary numbers.
August 26, 201212 yr In Sweden, the goal is set to one level-3 bed per 1000 deliveries. Our level-3 care is pretty much regionalized, I think there are 8 NICUs that are formally categorized as level-3, on a population of 9 million people and 110.000 births per year. Regarding level-2: I think the national standards vary more than the level-3 need around the world. My own example, in the Karolinska unit where I work, there are 10.000 inborn infants (gestational week 28+0 and up), and we have 20-24 beds. We usually use all beds all the time... Our admission rate is slightly lower than the national average (about 8.5 vs 10 %), part of the explanation is that we keep some infants in the maternity wards that would qualify for neonatal admission in our hospitals with a larger number of beds.
September 7, 201212 yr Neonatal beds These are the norms we are using in South Africa District3 / 1 000 local deliveries Regional1,5 / 1 000 deliveries in 2o catchment area Tertiary0,5 / 1 000 deliveries in 3o catchment area * Hospitals with 2 levels of care need to calculate the bed allocation for each level on the basis of the number of deliveries in the catchment area of each level. At district level 1/3 of neonatal beds should be KMC, 1/3rd H/C and 1/3rd low care. We also recommend at risk babies are nurses with their mothers and only recommend admitting sick babies to the nursery/ neonatal unit.
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