Top doctors at University of Iowa Health Care say they’re caring for an ever increasing number of premature babies — and have some of the best outcomes in the country. Dr. Patrick McNamara is a pediatrician who leads the University of Iowa Health Care’s Division of Neonatology.
McNamara cites research from a non-profit that works to improve outcomes at Neonatal Intensive Care Units around the world. He says at every gestational age, the Iowa City unit’s survival rate is significantly higher than the rest.
McNamara was invited to testify before an Iowa House Committee Tuesday morning. Over 10% of babies in Iowa are born prematurely. McNamara told lawmakers the unit is providing the most complex care for the most extremely premature babies — and getting pregnant women to Iowa City for care is critical if there are signs they’ll deliver extremely early.
McNamara says most ambulance calls are a scoop and run operation to get the patient to the hospital as quickly as possible, where maternal transport teams are specially trained to stabilize before and during transport. McNamara says in other areas, like British Columbia, they’ve set up a regional system to get pregnant women and their babies to the right hospital and it would be logical to have one for the entire state of Iowa.
