University of Maryland Children’s Hospital Named Among the Nation’s Best for Neonatology by U.S. News & World Report

The University of Maryland Children’s Hospital (UMCH), located inside the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, has been recognized as a “Best Children’s Hospital for Neonatology” by U.S. News & World Report. This marks the first time UMCH’s Neonatology Intensive Care Unit (NICU) has joined the prestigious list, while its exceptional care to the most fragile patients has had a major impact for decades.

In 1977, the unit became Maryland’s first Level IV NICU. Today, it is still one of only two Level IV units in the state providing the highest level of care for critically ill newborns. With 52 beds, including suites for twins, it is also the largest. Hundreds of newborns are cared for each year by a team of over 295 specially trained neonatologists, nurses, advanced practice providers (physician assistants and nurse practitioners), nurse aides, social workers, case managers, pharmacists and respiratory professionals.

The unit offers the gold-standard in neonatal intensive care expertise, equipment and social support services, including:

• Academic medical care that integrates, within a single location, various specialties to support the complex needs of critically ill infants
• Family-centered care, with sleeping couches and recliners available in every room, plus dedicated space for parents to take breaks while remaining close to their child
• Breast-feeding support including donor milk availability
• Neurosensory development program that includes daily and gentle exercises for parents to improve their baby’s sense of touch, smell, sight and hearing, and body movement and awareness 
• A volunteer “cuddler” program
• A statewide air-and-ground transport program that allows critically-ill newborns from different regions to be safely and quickly transported to UMCH’s NICU
• “NICU Follow Up” program that connects patients and their families to resources, tracks patient’s medical and social progress post-discharge, and significantly influences state policies around early intervention

Dina El-Metwally, MD, Ph.D., and Chief of Neonatology at the NICU, expressed her pride in the unit’s commitment to providing world-class care and compassion for families during one of the most challenging times of their lives.

“This recognition of our NICU as one of the best in the nation is a testament to the incredible dedication of our NICU staff. Our entire team works passionately every day to provide the best possible care and support for our newborns and their families. We see true miracles every day,” said Dr. El-Metwally, who is also a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

A system-wide commitment to Maryland children

The children’s hospital is part of the extensive University of Maryland Medical System and is integrated into dozens of member hospitals and practices. This essentially gives access to the highest level in academic, pediatric care to families throughout Maryland:

• Comprehensive children’s hospital and outpatient practice (Baltimore)
• Level IV NICU (Baltimore)
• Level III NICUs at UM Capital Region Health (Largo – Prince George’s County) and UM St. Joseph Medical Center (Towson – Baltimore County)
• State’s first trauma-informed, specialty inpatient psychiatric unit (in Baltimore)
• Comprehensive rehabilitation care at Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital and pediatric orthopedic surgery at UM Rehab & Orthopedic Institute
• Labor & Delivery units at more than half of the System’s member hospitals
• Pediatric specialty and outpatient practices through the region
• Physician-led summer camps for children with different health conditions
• System-wide mobilization during respiratory viral season that assures all pediatric patients in the state get the right level of care
• System-wide vaccination campaigns

This significant dedication of resources to children’s and women’s health comes at a time when other health systems are reducing their capacity to care for these critical populations.

Steven J. Czinn, MD, Director of the University of Maryland Children's Hospital, and the Drs. Rouben and Violet Jiji Endowed Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, congratulated the NICU. “This achievement highlights our ongoing commitment to excellence in pediatric care. I want to extend my heartfelt admiration to our NICU team for building such a reputation for high standards, innovation and the best outcomes for our patients,” said Czinn.

Media Resources: B-Roll and images supporting this news are available here. Please credit to the University of Maryland Children’s Hospital.

About the University of Maryland Children’s Hospital

The University of Maryland Children's Hospital (UMCH) is located inside the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC), the flagship hospital of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS). Recognized throughout Maryland and the mid-Atlantic region as a resource for children with critical and chronic illnesses, UMCH was the first children's hospital in Maryland to perform a dual lung and heart transplant, and the first in the state to create a neonatal intensive care unit for critically ill newborns. UMCH also established the state's first neonatal air transport program. It is one of only two Level IV NICUs in Maryland.

UMCH physicians and staff excel in combining state-of-the-art medicine with family-centered care. More than 100 physicians specialize in understanding how to treat conditions and diseases in children, including congenital heart conditions, asthma, epilepsy and gastrointestinal disorders. The Drs. Rouben and Violet Jiji Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) provides the highest level of care to the tiniest newborns. To learn more about the University of Maryland Children's Hospital, please visit www.umms.org/childrens.

About the University of Maryland Medical Center

The University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) is comprised of two hospital campuses in Baltimore: the 800-bed flagship institution of the 11-hospital University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) and the 200-bed UMMC Midtown Campus. Both campuses are academic medical centers for training physicians and health professionals and for pursuing research and innovation to improve health. UMMC's downtown campus is a national and regional referral center for trauma, cancer care, neurosciences, advanced cardiovascular care, and women's and children's health, and has one of the largest solid organ transplant programs in the country. All physicians on staff at the downtown campus are clinical faculty physicians of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The UMMC Midtown Campus medical staff is predominately faculty physicians specializing in a wide spectrum of medical and surgical subspecialties, primary care for adults and children and behavioral health. UMMC Midtown has been a teaching hospital for 140 years and is located one mile away from the downtown campus. For more information, visit www.umm.edu.

About the University of Maryland Medical System

The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is an academic private health system, focused on delivering compassionate, high quality care and putting discovery and innovation into practice at the bedside. Partnering with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore who educate the state’s future health care professionals, UMMS is an integrated network of care, delivering 25 percent of all hospital care in urban, suburban and rural communities across the state of Maryland. UMMS puts academic medicine within reach through primary and specialty care delivered at 11 hospitals, including the flagship University of Maryland Medical Center, the System’s anchor institution in downtown Baltimore, as well as through a network of University of Maryland Urgent Care centers and more than 150 other locations in 13 counties. For more information, visit www.umms.org.