An infant is vulnerable at birth, but when a baby is born prematurely, their young life is in a delicate state. Your newborn will be provided with 24-hour care from USF Health’s dedicated team of pediatric neonatology specialists. Providers utilize the most advanced technology to provide personalized care for premature babies and moms facing high risk deliveries. The team prioritizes open communication with families to help lessen anxiety and confusion. USF Health’s Neonatology Division is a participant in the Florida Perinatal Quality Collaborative, whose mission is to improve Florida's maternal and infant health outcomes through assuring quality perinatal care for all of Florida's women and infants.
USF Health’s Neonatology providers staff the Jennifer Leigh Muma Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Tampa General Hospital.
TGH is a designated Regional Perinatal Intensive Care Center, with over 4,500 deliveries each year. The Fetal Care Center Team of USF and TGH includes highly skilled and caring professionals who provide specialized care for mothers whose pregnancies are complicated by illness or fetal abnormality.
The Jennifer Leigh Muma NICU is an 82-bed Level IV facility that is capable of providing our tiniest patients with the speediest and best quality care. The NICU offers extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, neonatal transport services, and whole-body cooling for infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. A multi-disciplinary team of neonatologists, neonatal nurse practitioners, nurses and respiratory therapists take an evidence-based approach to managing complicated neonatal problems.
Patients graduating from the NICU can receive primary care and/or multispecialty care after discharge through the USF Health/TGH Joint Program in Neonatal Follow-up. This program provides families with a dedicated neonatal nurse navigator who assists with appointment scheduling, care planning, coordination and communication.
Our transport team members are specially trained to stabilize and transfer sick newborns to Tampa General Hospital. The state-of-the-art NICU not only cares for infants born at TGH, but also accepts transfers and referrals from other hospitals throughout the state of Florida. Some special services our NICU offers includes management of: hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy with whole body hypothermia therapy, Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), nitric oxide therapy, mechanical ventilation including high frequency oscillator therapy, management of metabolic and genetic disorders, and dialysis (peritoneal and hemodialysis). Our neonatal transport team can provide care for neonates using ambulance and helicopter services. A neonatal transport may be arranged at any time by calling the Tampa General Hospital’s Patient Transfer Center at 813-844-7979.
The Fetal Care Center team includes highly skilled and caring professionals who provide specialized care for mothers whose pregnancies are complicated by illness or fetal abnormality. We see patients at Tampa General Hospital (TGH), USF Health South Tampa Center, and USF Children's Medical Services. Maternal-fetal medicine specialists, neonatologists, pediatric surgeons, pediatric radiologists, pediatric cardiologists, pediatric neurologists, geneticists, and many other healthcare specialists are on our team.
