24 June 2010
GE Healthcare Introduces Educational Web site Empowering Hospitals to Develop Single Family Room NICUs
SFR NICUs provide 24 x 7 family contact, believed to be the optimal environment for baby and family
WAUKESHA, WI, June 25, 2010 ― GE Healthcare (NYSE:GE) has unveiled a new online resource to help empower professionals in the development of Single Family Room (SFR) Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) – considered to be optimal in caring for premature and sick babies.
A growing trend in NICU design, SFR NICUs provide families with a comfortable and private place to bond with their babies and to discuss care plans with NICU staff. SFR NICUs also enable caregivers to tailor the environment to each infant’s individual needs in light, temperature and sound.
The time spent in a NICU proves to be a crucial period for babies’ growth and brain development, and is also a key time for family bonding. Research now shows that a more natural sensory environment and increased parental interaction has long-term benefits for NICU babies.
The web site (www.singlefamilyroom.gehealthcare.com), created by GE Healthcare’s Maternal Infant Care division, is a compilation of vendor-neutral information, insights and experiences from U.S. hospitals that have launched SFR NICUs. Subjects range from planning, budgeting and design through construction and workflow, providing healthcare professionals with advice, successes and lessons learned in the development of SFR NICUs.
"Hospitals and healthcare providers who have taken on the challenge of implementing SFR NICUs are truly pioneers and heroes, improving the quality of neonatal intensive care and offering babies and their families comfort at a challenging time," said Carrie Eglinton Manner, General Manager of Maternal Infant Care for GE Healthcare. "It is our hope that sharing insight and experience through this vendor-neutral web site will help those hospitals who are new to Single Family Room NICUs make the best possible decisions for their organization and their patients."
About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.
Our "healthymagination" vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality and efficiency around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $16 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.
For our latest news, please visit http://newsroom.gehealthcare.com.
