Virtual Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (vNICU)

Children's Hospital Los Angeles and the Center of Fetal and Neonatal Medicine are in the process of developing and implementing a virtual neonatal intensive care unit (vNICU) structure that allows for the delivery of highly specialized neonatal and perinatal care to patients located far away from our hospital. 

Virtual medicine presents opportunities for patients to receive specialized care even while they are in remote locations far from medical experts and care specialists. In many cases, the ability to deliver care virtually allows patients in highly fragile conditions the option of foregoing a transfer from one hospital to another. It can also allow high quality care to be made available to patients in rural or remote locations. 

Our vNICU will initially link two sites, with the long-term goal of establishing a network of hospital NICUs across Southern California, connected via telemedicine. Given the national shortage in neonatologists, a vNICU network would allow specialists at our hospital to address the gaps in care experienced at remote hospitals and clinics.

Our goals are to:

1. Increase patients’ access to the appropriate level of acute care
2. Enhance health outcomes for patients
3. Improve families’ quality of life by preventing the child’s unnecessary removal from its community
4. Utilize scarce healthcare resources more efficiently
5. Create a model of telemedicine care that can be replicated nationwide
   

Research Phase

Research on telemedicine delivery has indicated that it enhances care and health outcomes for adult patients. However, as no data exist for the neonatal patient population, the neonatologists at our Center and hospital have set out to ensure that telemedicine represents the very best choice for infants and neonates prior to fully implementing the vNICU network.

With generous support from the UniHealth Foundation, the Division of Neonatal Medicine is engaged in a multi-year study, researching whether the use of telemedicine in a NICU environment results in care that is safe, effective, and provides the best standard of practice. Data for the first phase of the research has been published and plans for two additional phases are in place.

Phase one results indicate that the use of a remote-controlled, robotic telemedicine system in a NICU is feasible and safe. Telemedicine technology aptly provides off-site neonatologists with direct visual and auditory information about the patient and the clinical scenario in real-time in order to facilitate decisions about clinical care.

More about the Research Phase

Development of the vNICU Program

Although telemedicine has proven to be an effective method of bringing the expertise of pediatric and adult intensive care specialists to underserved communities, this technology has not yet been formally studied for use in the fragile neonatal population. 

Once our research has been completed, we plan to develop the world’s first v-NICU program that will reach distant and underserved NICUs. 

Plans are already underway for providing care in Antelope Valley, where our team will supply the expertise of a Regional Level III-IV Care Center. 

Future Activities

Plans are underway to establish a vNICU system for providing care in more remote regions in Southern California.