Neonatology

Neonatology

A new collaboration on a leading threat to preemies

UC Davis Children’s Hospital played an instrumental role last year in launching a nationwide effort to better address one of the most pressing concerns in the care of neonates, necrotizing enterocolitis or NEC. The nonprofit NEC Society’s first-of-its-kind Multi-NICU Probiotic Quality Improvement Project will examine routine administration of probiotics to very low birthweight infants at risk for the relatively common intestinal disease, which has case-fatality rates of 20 to 30 percent. Despite probiotics’ promising protective qualities for preemies, many NICUs aren’t utilizing this potentially lifesaving intervention.

First national NEC conference

The project emerged from the first national conference dedicated to the condition, presented in spring 2017 by the society and the UC Davis Department of Pediatrics. Mark Underwood, chief of neonatology at UC Davis Children’s Hospital, is a member of the NEC’s scientific advisory committee.

Nationally ranked

Our pediatric neonatology program placed 16th in the nation in 2017-18 U.S. News & World Report rankings.

Related Information:

williams twins
“Our twins fought hard. The medical interventions they received allowed them to survive. The love and minute-by-minute support they received from the NICU nurses allowed them to thrive.” – The Williams family, whose twins, Matthew and Morgan, were born at 26 weeks and spent months in neonatal intensive care at UC Davis Children's Hospital.

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