One of the unique aspects of The Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at BWH is the Growth and Development Unit (GDU). This unit was established to provide anticipated long-stay infants with ongoing specialist support for developmental, feeding, and neurological challenges. Our approach to care is family-centered and multidisciplinary with a whole baby focus. The GDU care team members, such as the physician, nurse practitioners, primary nurses, occupational and physical therapists, feeding specialist, social workers, dietitians, and lactation specialists, closely partner with parents of GDU babies to develop an individualized care plan to meet each baby’s individual health and psychosocial needs.
Areas of special focus for the GDU team include: feeding and swallowing, musculoskeletal and neuro-motor development, and state regulation and neuro-behavioral organization. The goals of the GDU team are to provide babies with hands-on care experience and parents with the education necessary to successfully transition babies home with parents fully prepared for this momentous occasion.
Growth and Development Unit (GDU) Team
- Carmina Erdei, MD
- Pamela Dodrill, PhD, CCC-SLP
- Deborah Giambanco, DNP, NNP-BC, PMHNP-BC
- Debra Marks, RN, PNP
- Katrina (Kate) Miller, MSN, RN, CPNP
- Kathleen Murphy, DNP, PNP-BC
