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Advances in neonatal intensive
care has permitted the survival of increasingly smaller infants.
Mortality for low
birthweight infants, especially the very low birthweight infants,
has declined dramatically. However, serious concerns persist
that this improved survival may be accompanied by an increase
in the number of permanently handicapped children. Indeed,
reduction in neonatal morbidity his not kept pace with reduction
in mortality. Most developmental follow-up programs report
a major handicap rate of twenty percent among very low birthweight
infants. While the percentage of major handicaps has remained
relatively unchanged since 1975, the absolute numbers have
increased as the number of intensive care nursery survivors
has increased.
Approximately ten percent
of infants born in the United States each year spend time
in a special care or intensive care nursery. In view
of the considerable commitment of manpower and monies directed
toward the acute care of these sick newborns, it becomes imperative
that perinatal centers provide a mechanism to ensure continuing
care and evaluation of their high-risk survivors. The Committee
on the Fetus and Newborn of the American Academy of Pediatrics
has reiterated this policy in the manual of Guidelines
for Perinatal Care , a joint publication of the American
Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetrics
and Gynecology Managing several tertiary care centers for
the State of Georgia, the Division of Neonatology at the Emory
University School of Medicine is mandated to provide systematic
follow-up to determine long-term outcome of intensive care
nursery survivors.
The Developmental
Progress Clinic at Emory University is a comprehensive
medical and developmental evaluation and intervention program
for infants cared for in the Emory University Regional Perinatal
Center. Because of the multiple and various perinatal problems
these infants encounter, many remain at significant risk for
both short and longterm medical and developmental sequelae.
The Developmental Progress
Clinic offers a variety of outpatient services by a transdiscipfinary
team of medical and developmental specialists to infants considered
to be at highest risk for medical and/or developmental problems.
Comprehensive medical and developmental evaluations are offered
in order to prevent, detect, and treat the problems of these
high-risk infants.
Mission Statement
The mission of the Developmental
Progress Clinic is to provide multidisciplinary, neurodevelopmental
evaluative and interventional services to infants and children
identified as "at-risk" or as "known-risk"
for neurodevelopmental disabilities.
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