Level II Nursery vs Level II Nicu

[madascanbeRNtobe]

Hi all

Im just a newbie about to start nursing school in september, very excited but filled with questions that never occurred to me, despite wanting to be a nurse for years......

The town that i am moving to, to go to Nursing school has 1 hospital with a Level II Nursery. My local hospital where I am at right now has both a Level II Nursery and a Level II NICU. What is the difference between the two, and whats the difference between Level I and Level II?

Thanks in advance

CrazyZanyMad

[suzanne4, RN]

The most primitive of care is the Level I in any type of care, except for emergency depts and traumas where it is the most critical patients that go there.

A Level II nursery can take babies that need to get bili light treatment, have IVs for medications, etc.

A Level II NICU can have stable infants that are on ventilators, usually after spending time in a Level III and being transferred back to be closer to family, or needing an expected short time on the vent.

Level IV would be the sickest of the infants and able to do the most critical types of care such as ECMO, etc.

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This at least will give you the general basics.

[madascanbeRNtobe]

Thanks Suzanne

i wasn't sure if the level of care needed increased with numbers or decreased. Thanks for clarifying that.

So if a hospital only has a level II Nursery, and a baby was born at that hospital needed to be in a level II, III, or level IV NICU, would he/she then be flown to such a hospital?

If a doctor knows in advance that a mom is having a high-risk baby or is at high risk of premature labour, and would need a level III or IV NICU, would the mom be advised to move closer to such a hospital in advance?

CrazyZanyMad

[Jolie, BSN]

A Level II NICU is the same thing as a Level II Nursery. Most hospitals with Level II designations prefer to call their units NICUs, as that sounds more impressive to potential patients, but the designation made by the state refers to newborn care. It is the hospital's choice whether to call that unit a Nursery or a NICU.

Go to the NICU forum where a recent thread highlights the designations in levels of newborn care.

https://allnurses.com/forums/f33/level-2-vs-level-3-nicu-220581.html

[madascanbeRNtobe]

thankyou Jolie.

Im new to this site and didnt even realize that there were Nursing Speciality Forums.

But, the thread you linked to, really cleared things up

CrazyZanyMad

[BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN]

Jolie is right, a level 2 is a level 2. Also, there really isn't a level 4, but some places call themselves this when they have ECMO.

[madascanbeRNtobe]

HI

ok but since my hospital seems to have both a Level II Nursery and Level II NICU. While everyone here is saying its the same thing. I did some investigating.

And they dont have both, its the same thing, it was just called two different things on the same webpage lol.

CrazyZanyMad