How Intensive Is Newborn Intensive Care? An Environmental Analysis

Each year, approximately 200,000 to 250,000 newborn infants in the United States require intensive care. The length of hospitalization for the premature newborn usually ranges from 15 to 50 days and occasionally longer.1 Although follow-up studies have shown normal development in most of these infants, evidence continues to indicate sensory and cognitive deficits in very small premature newborns. It has been suggested that contemporary management of newborns receiving intensive care may be responsible for newly recognized iatrogenic complications and may contribute to developmental deficits associated with prematurity.2-5 Both clinicians and researchers have begun to question the potential adverse medical and developmental consequences of environmental stimulation for newborns in special care units.6