New York Hospital, Institutes for Physicians and Nurses in the Care of Premature Infants Records

Dr. Samuel Z. Levine at the New York Hospital began the Institutes for Physicians & Nurses in the Care of Premature Infants in 1949 with funding from the Department of Pediatrics, the United States Children's Bureau, and the New York State Department of Health. Their purpose was to teach basic sciences and clinical care of premature infants to doctor-nurse teams chosen from applicants from major teaching hospitals, smaller hospitals planning to open or expand premature units, and public health officials responsible for such units. In the early 1960s, the scope was expanded to include high-risk infants. There were five Institutes held each academic year for four weeks each, with doctors attending only for the final two weeks.

In 1970, the special Institutes began to be offered for nurses only. This move was taken because more and more nurses were applying, while fewer doctors sought to attend. By the mid-1970s, the title for the program had changed to Institutes in Perinatology for Nurses. Funding was continued from the Children’s Bureau and the New York State Department of Health. The Institutes were run by the Division for Continuing Education for Nurses, Cornell University-New York Hospital School of Nursing, and the Pediatric Department, under the directorship of Dr. Peter Auld. In 1975, the Perinatology Center was established, and the Institutes were continued under its auspices. By this time, the focus of the training program had changed to recognize that community hospitals could not handle high-risk infants. These children should go to special units equipped for their care and training should be concentrated on the staff for these units, especially the nurses. The Institutes for Nurses ended in early 1980.