SCN
The short definition
An SCN is a special care nursery — a hospital nursery for babies who need more care than a normal ward can give.
What it actually means
It is a middle step. More care and more monitoring than the postnatal ward, less than intensive care. Babies born early, or who need help getting started, spend time there.
It is common. Almost 1 in 5 Australian babies is admitted to an SCN or a NICU. That is a lot of families, and almost none of them expected it.
The nursery is staffed by doctors who specialise in newborns, nurses and midwives with neonatal training, and lactation consultants. Bub may start in an incubator — also called a humidicrib — before moving to a cot.
A parent is treated as part of the baby's healthcare team, not a visitor to it. An SCN is also usually where a family gets help with feeding and gets ready to take bub home.
Where Dadda will hear it
Said as three letters, often with no explanation, in the first hours after the birth. Sometimes it is said as "the nursery", which sounds far gentler than the acronym and means the same place.
He may also hear it later, as the step down from intensive care — a baby who improves moves from the NICU to the SCN.
Not to be confused with
- A NICU. A neonatal intensive care unit is the higher level of care. Babies in a NICU are more seriously ill and need more care than babies in an SCN. Moving from NICU to SCN is good news.
- The postnatal ward nursery. An SCN is a clinical unit with its own staff and equipment. It is not the room where babies are wheeled for a few hours.