Expert Neonatology and Maternal-Fetal Care

Care for premature infants— That’s what nurses like Ashley Beckwith, R.N., deliver inside the neonatal intensive care unit.

Lorraine Dickey, M.D.
Neonatology

John Smulian, M.D.
Perinatology

Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network’s neonatology and perinatology services are growing to provide more advanced care for critically ill babies and women with high-risk pregnancies.

Neonatology

Home to the area's only Level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the hospital is the largest in the area able to care for infants younger than 28 weeks. A team of seven neonatologists (available in-house 24 hours a day, seven days a week) and six neonatal nurse practitioners provide the most advanced neonatal care for premature and sick term infants.

“More and more babies are born prematurely every year,” says Lorraine Dickey, M.D., chief, division of neonatology. “During 2007 we cared for 100 more infants than the previous year.” Neonatologists also work closely with the hospital’s maternal-fetal medicine specialists to identify women with high-risk pregnancies who may deliver prematurely.

To provide more advanced care to patients and families in surrounding areas, the neonatal team assists with transports—both by ground and air— from hospitals in the Poconos, Hazleton, Lehighton, Pottsville and Landsdale.

The NICU also provides overnight accommodations for families. Parents and loved ones, with parents’ approval, are welcome to visit at any time.

Maternal-fetal medicine

The hospital is home to the region’s largest perinatology medical staff and serves as a regional referral center for the Lehigh Valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania. Seven perinatologists are specially educated to care for pregnant women who may be at high risk for pregnancy complications.

Maternal-fetal medicine specialists commonly treat couples who are at risk for having a baby with a genetic or growth problem, women with medical conditions that could affect pregnancy such as hypertension, diabetes and asthma, and women with normal pregnancies who develop complications that could affect their health and the baby’s.

“We also consult with women who have a history of problem pregnancies or premature births, and we are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to assist with specialized pregnancy care when needed,” says perinatologist John Smulian, M.D.

Smulian recently joined the hospital as chief of maternal-fetal medicine and vice chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology. He is the former director of the division of maternal-fetal medicine at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J.

Before and during pregnancy, members of the maternal-fetal medicine division, including a genetic counselor, meet with patients to provide counseling and tests to determine the risk for miscarriage, birth defects and genetic abnormalities. Perinatologists then oversee a patient’s care through delivery, using the latest technology such as high-level ultrasound with 3-D and 4-D capabilities and genetic testing.

To meet the need for maternal-fetal medicine care in outlying areas, the hospital partners with Montage Center for Specialized Medicine in Moosic, Pa. (the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area). Perinatologists are there four days a week and use the hospital’s high-speed telemedicine network to oversee additional fetal ultrasound imaging. The hospital also is exploring the opportunity of integrating televideo into its consultation services in outlying areas.

This page last updated 4/28/10 02:35 PM