الفهرس 
AcknowledgementOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Intensive care units ( ICUs ) aocount for a considerable proportion of hospital costs. Infants with very low birth weight who are born in regions with neonatal ICUs have an inoreased chance of survival compared with similar infants born in places without such facilities. Accordingly the neonatal intensive care oan be justified in terms of reduced mortality as well as improved quality of survival. Neonatal intensive oare unit environments are characterized by the use of expensive and sophisticated life support systems for the critically ill. Staff experience and newborn diagnosis are oritical factors in determing outcome. The present study was carried out in the neonatal intens ive care unit ( NICU ) of Tanta 1~in University Hospital. This work was carried out to study the organizational patte rn of the unit, the efficiency of utilization, development of criteria for admission and criteria for nursing services. Conducted retrospective study which included review of all available medical record of inf’ants admitted to unit during. 2 years ( 1986 - 1987 ) , which amounted to 306 records. A concurrent study applied along with researcher observation for period of 3 months ( Au&!st - October 1988 ) during which 210 admitted infants Vlere included. Criteria for admission and discharge from NICU , ~s well as criteria for nursing c~re were developed and validated. Nursing aare cri terio. v/ere used to appraise the perforn:ance of all nurses working in the lIT CU t during the three shifts. Results of. this study indicated that the unit was divi..;. ded into trxee care levels: I , 11 , and 111 , level 111 beinc the most critical level, in addition to an isolati~ on room. After this study was carried ou.t renovation of the unit design was done. Among the deficiencied revealed in the unit design was the failure to allocate a special area as a nursing station, even after renovation. Although, the available equipment is better than many other hospitals t yet certain important emergency equipme nt deficiencies eg. the emergttnoy resuscitation set. In the present study, regarding diagnosis of infant admtted to the unit, it was evident that all cases met the criteria for admission stated by experts. ”Feta1! growth” problems formed the highest proportion cases admitted to NICU in most yee:rs . The ”infectionll of group increased steadily over the years,