FAQ's

Any infant who was admitted to the NICU for 72 hours or more.

Our success is measured by making certain that families are linked to all of the support services they need after the baby is discharged from the hospital. Secondly, the research studies we have participated in have identified interventions - such as surfactant, antenatal steroids, and breast milk - that have contributed to improved outcomes of special NICU babies. 

Since your baby was in the NICU, this means your baby’s condition was serious enough at birth that health and development should be monitored more closely than most infants.

Concerns addressed early often can be resolved much more satisfactorily than those that remain unresolved until later in life. Sometimes it can be reassuring just to hear that your baby is doing fine.

Once you have received all the information you need about this program, you will be asked to sign a release of information.

This allows us to exchange information with your baby’s primary physician, the hospital and the UNMC Munroe- Meyer Institute which will be responsible for working with you to arrange follow-up and collect outcome information.

The answer is YES! Developmental TIPS does not take the place of seeing your regular doctor, but because of your baby’s unique NICU experience, having a specialized team to help monitor your baby’s development is an essential part of follow-up care.

1. Follow-up Questionnaire

Babies who have had a fairly smooth NICU experience will be followed by a developmental questionnaire. This questionnaire will be sent to your home around four key periods of development: 6 months, 16 months, 2 years, and 3 years of age.

These times will be based on corrected age for premature babies through two years of age. Families will be asked to complete and return the survey for scoring.

2. Follow-up by Developmental Assessment

Those babies whose hospital stay was more complicated will be asked to come to a clinic during the same key periods for developmental screening by a team of specialists.

3. Follow-up by your local Early Intervention Program

Sometimes your health care team will recommend that your baby be evaluated for services to help promote his/her development through the local school district or Early Development Network. If your child qualifies for services, Developmental TIPS will still contact you to obtain follow-up information. In some situations, your physician may recommend that your baby be seen in clinic so that the developmental pediatrician can evaluate him/her.

Six clinic sites will be available in three cities across the state of Nebraska:

• Lincoln  (two clinic locations)

• Omaha  (three clinic locations)

• Scottsbluff

Please refer to the Locations/Contact page for more information.

At this time there is no cost to families for any of the follow-up activities. However, families who were recommended for developmental screening in a clinic by the NICU at Bryan Health will have the option of receiving a questionnaire at no cost, attending a no-cost clinic in Omaha, or attending the NICU follow-up clinic at Bryan Health that does bill for its services.

Like you, we are very interested in your child’s development. If you have missed any of the mile marker appointments, you can still come to TIPS clinic. Please note, all appointments are important in reviewing your child’s development needs. Please refer to the Locations/Contact page for more information.

Providers at the TIPS program do not replace your child’s primary care provider (PCP). We work in partnership with your child’s PCP. We share all the documentation from our assessments with your child’s PCP so that we can work as a team to support your child’s development.