Newborn and Infant Chronic Lung Disease Program

Newborn & Infant Chronic Lung Disease Program

Chronic lung disease (CLD) of infancy, also known as bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), affects premature and extremely low birth weight infants.

Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit’s Newborn & Infant Chronic Lung Disease Program has extensive experience in the management of infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Our multidisciplinary team uses a patient- and family-centered approach to provide an individualized plan for each infant. Using evidence-based best practices in neonatology, ventilator/respiratory management, specialized nutrition plans and child development, we maximize each infant’s wellbeing to improve and optimize outcomes.

Our Treatment Approach

Interventions are individualized and patient dependent and may include:

• Nursing care for patient and family wellbeing
• Child Life to maximize family support and participation in care
• Respiratory support to achieve optimal lung recruitment and remodeling
• Interventions to minimize gastroesophageal reflux
• Nutritional support to optimize weight and height
• Management of pulmonary hypertension
• Speech, physical and occupational therapies to optimize neurodevelopment and oral feeding, and respiratory support weaning
• Social work assistance with resources and psychosocial support
• Discharge Nurse Navigator support throughout the admission to coordinate care, discharge training, and post-discharge continuity of care
• Gastrostomy tube support if oral feeding is unsuccessful
• Tracheostomy when indicated including family training by the Global Tracheostomy Collaborative Coordinator
  We partner with our Pediatric Critical Care Unit and the Complex Chronic Care Coordination Program to maintain continuity of care when transfer from the NICU to PICU is indicated or after discharge from the NICU.

Why Choose Us

Our NICU is an active participant in the BPD Collaborative, a multi-institution international group dedicated to advancing care of infants with BPD. The mission of the collaborative is to serve as a catalyst for improving the life-long outcomes of babies who develop severe BPD by fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation in the identification and treatment of these highly vulnerable patients across major academic and non-academic centers through the sharing of data, development and implementation of quality improvement initiatives, and fostering research protocols to address the most pressing gaps in our knowledge.

Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital was the 8th center of only 26 centers to join the BPD Collaborative and the first center in the state of Florida to have a program dedicated solely to the care of chronic lung disease. Our focus is on treating infants with severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia born at our hospital or who have reached treatment thresholds at other hospitals. We use a multidisciplinary approach including multispecialty involvement, novel respiratory treatments, evidence-based nutritional support and a focus on developmental care.

Contact Us

For more information about the NICU Newborn & Infant Chronic Lung Disease Program at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, call 954-265-8718 or email JDCH_BPD_Program@mhs.net.