Neonatal Follow-Up Program

Who are We

Your family's NICU journey does not end with discharge home. The Neonatal Follow Up Program (NFUP) at BC Women's Hospital offers long term neurodevelopmental and medical monitoring for babies who continue to need close monitoring after discharge from the NICU. This might be because they were born very premature or were very ill during their newborn period. Our multidisciplinary team provides assessment of your baby's milestones at key ages so that we can help with timely referrals for community services and early developmental intervention. At present babies are seen from NICU admission to early school age.

Our program was started in 1983, initially to collect data on survival of high risk infants in British Columbia. We strive to continue to grow with our NICU and the families who inform our care, and continue to explore the best possible ways to offer both an excellent clinical service, as well as continue to research those life outcomes that matter to the families we serve.

What do we do

Overall Goals of the Neonatal Follow-Up Program

‎Our Vision

A thriving future beyond neonatal intensive care.

Our Mission

We promote the well-being of children and their families after neonatal intensive care, and support them in the early years and beyond.

We do this by:

Partnering with families and communities to support each child,
Identifying each child's unique strengths and needs,
Advocating for equitable access to supports for all children,
Collaborating on research to inform best practice, and
Sharing what we learn with families, care providers and communities.

Referral Criteria for NFUP

Gestational age ≤25 + 6 weeks
Birth weight ≤ 800g
Currently babies of gestational age 26-29 weeks will be seen by the Early Motor Screening Program at BC Children's Hospital and by NFUP once at 18 months corrected age
Grade 3-4 intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH)
Periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) on brain imaging
Severe retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) - ≥ stage 3 or requiring treatment
Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH)
All who receive extracorporeal life support (ECLS) at BC Children's Hospital
Babies discharged home from NICU on oxygen or respiratory support
Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) requiring surgical intervention
Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) Sarnat level 2-3 or who received therapeutic hypothermia
Special requests

Education

BC Women's Hospital is an academic hospital. You will frequently meet learners when you come to the Neonatal Follow-Up clinic. They include medical students, residents, fellows and allied health student. They work alongside the NFUP team to learn about the delivery of healthcare through hands-on learning and research.

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