Neonatal Unit

The entire floor on level 5 of Monash Medical Centre is dedicated to obstetric and neonatal care, with a modern, purpose-built  50 bed neonatal facility.

About 1,000 neonates per year are admitted to the Monash unit and over 200 neonates receive assisted ventilation annually. There is a strong emphasis on clinical research which is directly relevant to improving medical care for preterm or sick infants. Based on work carried out in the Monash Neonatal Unit, 133 articles have been accepted for publication in North America and Europe, 103 articles in Australia and 91 articles in Asia. In addition, over 250 abstracts have been published based on scientific papers presented at various international and national conferences.

A postgraduate training programme was established in 1980 for paediatricians who wish to work as neonatologists. The Monash Neonatal Unit offers postgraduate training which is accredited by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians to advanced trainees in Neonatal/Perinatal Medicine. In addition to Australian medical graduates, our neonatal programme has offered opportunities for postgraduate neonatal training to 117 overseas medical graduates from 33 countries.

The Neonatal Critical Care Nursing Course has to date graduated over 150 specialists in neonatal nursing who are now working throughout Australia, New Zealand and SE Asia. A number of nursing postgraduate students came sponsored by their own institutions or funded by scholarship, from Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, and one from Beijing, China, who was awarded a United Nations Development Programme Scholarship for postgraduate studies at the Monash Neonatal Unit. Currently, this course is being run as a Graduate Diploma of Nursing (Neonatal Care), Centre for Graduate Studies in Clinical Nursing, Monash University.

The Monash Neonatal Unit has a strong perinatal programme with close links to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Centre for Early Human Development and Institute for Reproduction and Development.