Neonatal care at Baylor University Medical Center:
You've come a long way, baby!

Jonathan M. Whitfield, MBChB, FRCP(C), and Dianne S. Charsha, RNC, MSN, NNP

When Texas Baptist Memorial Sanitarium-the predecessor of Baylor University Medical Center-was chartered in 1903, the notion of successfully treating premature infants must have seemed like an impossible dream. Although Baylor provided pediatric services from the beginning (the first pediatrician in Texas was Hugh Leslie Moore, Baylor's first chief of pediatrics), neonatology would require technological advances that would not be available until the 1960s and 1970s. Today the Lange neonatal intensive care unit has a multidisciplinary staff of almost 300 people, including physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, neonatal nurse practitioners, pediatric nurse practitioners, registered dietitians, social workers, educators, and a chaplain. Widely recognized for its excellent care, the BUMC neonatal unit has been featured many times in both the local and national media over the past decade.