NICU Tests & Treatments

South Shore Health is able to care for babies born at any time in pregnancy who have a wide range of medical conditions at South Shore Hospital's Level III Messina Family NICU and the Level II Andrade Family Special Care Nursery.

The unit is staffed by doctors, nurses, and respiratory therapists with specific training in the care of ill, premature, and recovery newborns. We offer 24/7, in-hospital coverage by a neonatologist and a neonatal nurse practitioner.

The Level III NICU offers the following tests and treatments:

• Respiratory support, including high frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV), surfactant therapy, and inhaled nitric oxide therapy
• Vasoactive medications
• Postnatal evaluation of prenatally detected cardiac abnormalities
• Central vascular access
• Intravenous nutrition
• Feeding team and occupational therapy services
• NICU Lactation Service
• Blood component transfusions
• Exchange transfusion
• Hemophilia diagnosis
• Social Work Services
• Echocardiograms interpreted by Boston Children’s Hospital cardiologists
• Neuroimaging: head ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging
• Video-EEG monitoring with interpretation by the Boston Children’s Hospital Epilepsy Service
• RetCam screening for retinopathy of prematurity, with image interpretation by the Boston Children’s Hospital Ophthalmology Foundation ophthalmologists