COLORADO NEWBORN CARE

Caring for our smallest patients is the passion of Kaiser Permanente Colorado’s neonatology doctors. We understand how hard it can be for parents when their newborn needs special care in the hospital for serious conditions. We’re here to provide your family with the most advanced treatments in a compassionate, holistic, and family-centered environment.

We think differently about medicine: We think about both your baby and you. We help hundreds of families in the Colorado region every year, and we’ll give you the tools you and your infant need to be at your healthiest.

Using the latest technology and medical expertise, our neonatologists treat:

• Respiratory conditions in premature and full-term babies using state-of-the-art technology and, as much as possible, non-invasive ventilation
• Early onset neonatal infections
• Perinatal neurologic conditions with total body hypothermia
• Conditions requiring neonatal surgery
• And more

Learn more about infant care in the NICU or pregnancy and childbirth. Learn about Nick and Keri Corso, Kaiser Permanente members whose daughter spent more than two months in the NICU in what they now call “the best worst experience” of their lives.

We constantly review every aspect of care, looking for ways to improve it through shared best practices. We exchange knowledge with the Vermont Oxford Network, a group of health care providers from about 1,000 neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) across the country and the world, in our effort to provide the highest standard of care.

One example of this was when Kaiser Permanente doctors in the SCL Health Saint Joseph Hospital NICU worked with neonatal doctors across the state to use a combination of probiotics and donor breast milk to nearly eliminate an intestinal condition common in pre-term and low-birth-weight infants. As a result of this work, approximately 65% of Colorado NICUs now use this combination, compared with 15% of NICUs nationally.

Our newborn care specialists also use the “Integrated Family Care” approach. Parents are not only invited to visit their infants during twice-a-day doctors’ rounds, but they are gradually encouraged to become the primary care takers of their infants while their babies are still in the hospital. We do this because getting babies healthy and home as soon as possible is our goal.

The Kaiser Permanente Neonatology Department consists of board-certified doctors who work alongside highly specialized teams to provide the best neonatal care possible. The department is the sole provider of newborn infant services for Kaiser Permanente and non-Kaiser Permanente patients admitted to the NICUs at SCL Health Saint Joseph Hospital and SCL Health Good Samaritan Medical Center. Search our Permanente doctors.

We believe the best care involves many. Our newborn infant care doctors lead teams made up of nurses, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, and more. When needed, we also involve pediatric surgeons and other pediatric specialists. And we work with Kaiser Permanente pediatricians after babies go home to help ensure they continue to get consistent care that keeps them their healthiest. We are all connected to each other — and to your baby — through our electronic health record system, so we are always on the same page when it comes to their care.

The way we practice medicine at Kaiser Permanente gives us the freedom to focus on care, rather than running a business. We are free to practice medicine the way it is supposed to be practiced — with a focus on providing expert, compassionate care to you.

Every member of your care team is here to support you through your journey. When you have excellent doctors, truly connected care teams, advanced technology, and the right partners, you can expect great results.

Each year, Kaiser Permanente doctors are recognized as top doctors by their peers and publications such as 5280 magazine. Some have joined us from top-ranked academic training programs and successful private practices. Others have been honored for their invaluable contributions to medical advancements and new surgical techniques that help patients heal quickly and with less pain.

Our hospital partners have a track record of success and are often recognized as regional or national centers of excellence for their specialties. We also partner with national organizations, contributing to large, cutting-edge, research projects.