
The Infantorium - neonate
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-infantorium/
======
opwieurposiu
So our new baby came out two months early and had to spend six weeks in the
NICU. The local hospital had just built this NICU so it was of the latest
design. Instead of rows of incubators, every family gets their own little room
(twins share, triplets+ get multiple rooms). The room has a couch, incubator,
sink and rocking chair. This NICU costs about $100 every hour your baby is in
there. Our feed/change/weigh cycle was every four hours. The nurses will
handle it if you are not there. Doctors and med students did rounds twice a
day.

If baby is too small to nurse they are fed via a nose tube and syringe pump.
Dinner options include formula, donated or BYOB human milk, and special
concentrated human milk with vitamins. If baby is not doing well they can feed
via IV. It is not easy to get an IV into a tiny baby, but they manage.

This design does make it harder for the nurses to keep an eye on all the
babies so they rely on the vital signs monitoring equipment a lot. They
measure HR, blood O2, respiration and skin temp. They can get alerts in room A
if baby in room B vitals drop. There is also a cell phone thing they can watch
vitals on if they are away from the rooms for some reason.

You don't really get to see the other babies, and sadly there are no carnival
games. It did feel a bit isolating but this system does have advantages, each
room can be turned into an OR if required and germ transmission is reduced.

They can handle very small babies, down to 24weeks. They have diapers the size
of postage stamps for the little ones. The ward had 30+ babies when we were
there and not one death the whole six weeks. Pretty good.

~~~
ryandrake
> So our new baby came out two months early and had to spend six weeks in the
> NICU. [...] This NICU costs about $100 every hour your baby is in there.

Sorry, so the bill was $100,800? I'm from the USA and... I know... should be
used to this savagery by now, but wow. This makes me jealous of my
counterparts living in countries with civilized health care systems, and
extremely grateful that my own daughter was born on time and healthy. I could
barely afford the (post-insurance) multi-thousand dollar bill I was charged
for a normal delivery!

~~~
zrail
The total bill for our kiddo's 37 day stay in NICU was ~$400,000 including
hospital charges, doctors, and tests. That doesn't include the delivery which
was billed under my wife's stuff. Her bill was ~$100,000 for a 3 week stay
(high blood pressure plus other factors).

After 30 days our state's Medicaid program decided that she was a household of
1 and paid for everything our normal insurance didn't, and continues to pay
secondary for everything she needs because she has a rare medical condition.

