URI_Research_Magazine_2009-2010_Melissa-McCarthy

“Sullivan’s research may enable health care providers and parents of premature infants to prepare for the challenges ahead.”

Sullivan is also collaborating on another related research study at Women & Infants Hospital entitled “Effects of Open Bay versus Single Room NICU on Infant Outcome at Discharge,” that aims to compare the medical and neurobehavioral status of infants at discharge. The study is conducted with the principal investigator Barry Lester and colleagues at the Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk. Women & Infants Hospital spent two years and $76.8 million to build a brand new, two-story NICU committed to increasing the survival rate of premature babies. The new unit is made up of single-family rooms for each baby in order to provide them and their families with a private, cozy space. These qualities enable babies to carry on with natural sleeping

and eating cycles and enables parents to feed and care for their babies. In addition, the new environment changed the work setting for nurses, physicians and therapists. Investing in this facility is an investment in the best start for the babies and their families, thereby setting a pathway toward healthy development. Over the last 50 years, advanced resources and state-of-the-art neonatal intensive care units, like the newly-opened unit at Women & Infants Hospital in Providence, have decreased the mortality rate for premature infants. Sullivan hopes her work will make a big impact on the lives of our smallest babies.

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