Impact of Transition to a New Single Patient Room NICU on Gastric Bacterial Colonization of Preterm Neonates Compared to a Traditional Open Bay NICU

This prospective cohort study was conducted in the Christiana Care Health System Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. It occurred at two time periods: Time period 1 included infants admitted to the traditional, open bay NICU. Time period 2 included infants admitted to the new private, single family room NICU. There was a 3 month period between Time period 1 and Time period 2 to ensure that there was no patient overlap. Stool samples and environmental samples were collected at 1 and 4 weeks after birth in both time periods. The objective of this study was to establish the gastrointestinal microbiome of infants born at less than 32 weeks gestation admitted to the exiting open bay NICU and compare it to the gastrointestinal microbiome of infants born at less than 32 weeks admitted to the new private, single family room NICU.