NICU Terms and Abbreviations

Why it sounds like a different language

Neonatal medicine runs on abbreviations because the same twenty facts are repeated about every baby, twice a day, at speed. That is efficient for the team and disorienting for you. Bliss publishes a full alphabetical glossary of the terms used on UK neonatal units precisely because parents ask, and staff are used to translating. If a word goes past and you do not catch it, stopping the round to ask is normal and expected — NICE guideline NG124 tells units to give parents regular opportunities to ask questions about the information they have been given.

The four age words

• Gestational age — how many weeks pregnant you were when your baby was born.
• Chronological age — Bliss defines this simply as a baby's age from their date of birth. Also called actual age.
• Postmenstrual age (PMA) — gestational age plus the weeks since birth. This is the one used constantly on the unit. "She is 33 weeks now" means 33 weeks PMA, not 33 weeks old.
• Corrected age — Bliss defines it as the age a premature baby would be if they had been born on their due date. This is the one used for development after discharge.

Breathing words

Sats is oxygen saturation, the percentage on the monitor, measured by a light probe on a hand or foot. NICE NG124 says the target after initial stabilisation is 91 to 95 per cent, which is why nobody is chasing 100. CPAP is continuous positive airway pressure: air, with or without oxygen, delivered through nasal prongs or a small mask at slightly raised pressure to keep the lungs from collapsing between breaths. High flow or Optiflow is warmed, humidified air through smaller prongs for babies who need help but not that much pressure. ETT is the endotracheal tube passed into the windpipe when a baby is ventilated, and extubation is its removal. Oscillator or HFOV is a ventilator that delivers hundreds of tiny breaths a minute, which makes the chest look like it is vibrating.

Apnoea is a pause in breathing of 20 seconds or longer. Bradycardia, or a "brady", is the heart rate slowing for a period. Desaturation, or a "desat", is the oxygen level dipping. Bliss notes that both apnoea of prematurity and bradycardias usually settle by around 36 weeks gestation.

Feeding and nutrition words

NG and OG are the nasogastric and orogastric feeding tubes, going through the nose or the mouth into the stomach. EBM is expressed breast milk. TPN is total parenteral nutrition, feeding given into a vein while the gut is not ready. Aspirate has two meanings, which catches people out: checking the aspirate means drawing back a little stomach content to confirm a feeding tube is in the right place, while aspiration means inhaling something into the lungs. NBM is nil by mouth. Fortifier is an additive that increases the calories, protein and minerals in expressed milk for babies who need more than milk alone provides.

Line and tube words

A cannula is a short soft tube in a small vein for fluids and medicines. A long line is a very fine tube threaded into a larger vein, used mainly for nutrition. UAC and UVC are umbilical arterial and venous catheters, placed into the blood vessels of the cord stump — Bliss explains that the arterial one measures blood pressure and takes blood samples, and the venous one gives nutrition and medicine. Neither hurts going in; the cord stump has no nerve endings.

Test and result words

Gases is a blood gas: the levels of oxygen, carbon dioxide and acid in the blood, used to judge how the lungs and circulation are doing. CRP is C-reactive protein, which rises with infection. Hb is haemoglobin, and a low level is anaemia. Platelets help control bleeding and can run low in preterm babies. Blood cultures take about 48 hours to grow. Cranial USS is a head ultrasound. ROP is retinopathy of prematurity, screened for in babies born before 31 weeks or under 1500g.

Condition abbreviations you will hear

RDS is respiratory distress syndrome, caused by not having enough surfactant. CLD or BPD is chronic lung disease, also called bronchopulmonary dysplasia. PDA is patent ductus arteriosus, a blood vessel that should close after birth. NEC is necrotising enterocolitis, a serious gut condition. IVH is intraventricular haemorrhage, bleeding into the fluid spaces of the brain. HIE is hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy, which affects term babies rather than preterm ones.

Two phrases that mean less than they sound

"Stable" is a strong compliment in intensive care, not a lukewarm one. And "we will watch it" is usually a plan rather than a delay — a great deal of neonatal medicine is deliberately not intervening in things that resolve on their own.

How to get a straight answer

Ward rounds are fast and pitched at the team. Bliss suggests writing questions down in advance, and notes you can ask for a doctor to talk to you separately if the round is not the moment. NICE NG124 goes further and tells units to encourage parents to participate in discussions and decisions during ward rounds, and to provide regular time for questions. Two questions do most of the work: "what does that word mean" and "what does that change about the plan for today".

The words for who everybody is

A neonatologist is a consultant paediatrician specialising in newborn babies. A registrar is a senior doctor in training, and often the person you see most. An ANNP is an advanced neonatal nurse practitioner, who can do much of what a registrar does. Bliss notes that the wider team also includes neonatal dietitians, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists working on feeding, pharmacists, infant feeding specialists and often a psychologist or family support worker.

Two organisational words matter too. Handover is where the outgoing and incoming shifts share information about your baby, which is why nobody is available for twenty minutes at set times. Cares is the cluster of nappy changing, mouth care, temperature and repositioning done together at set intervals, deliberately grouped so your baby is disturbed less often. You can and should be taught to do your baby's cares.

Unit names and levels

NICU is a neonatal intensive care unit, LNU a local neonatal unit and SCBU or SCU a special care baby unit. Transitional care is where your baby stays with you on a postnatal ward with neonatal support. ODN is the operational delivery network, the regional group of units that decides where cots are available. If you hear that the network is looking for a cot, that is what is meant.