This study looks at the psychological distress that the neonatal intensive care unit can cause in mothers. Its aim is to develop a clear conceptual understanding of maternal distress in the NICU using conceptual definitions and empirical findings.
Available in Advances in Neonatal Care; Oct 2019; vol. 19 (no. 5); p. 394-401 (subscription and log in required to see the full article)
This study looks at the possible increase of risk of “wrong patient orders” among multiple-birth infants compared with singleton-birth infants in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Available in JAMA Pediatrics; Oct 2019; vol. 173 (no. 10); p. 979-985 (subscription and log in required to see the full article)
The aim of this study was to assess Jordanian neonatal nurses’ knowledge and beliefs toward the application of kangaroo mother care in the neonatal intensive care unit.
The findings revealed that the majority of the nurses agreed that kangaroo mother care was beneficial to both mothers and infants; however, 47.2% believed that it was not feasible for all preterm infants.
Available in Nursing & Health Sciences 28 March 2019 (subscription and log in required to see the full article)
This article examines the most common complex medical problems in premature and critically ill term infants and the specialist knowledge Primary care physicians need in order to coordinate post-discharge care.
Available in Pediatric Clinics of North America, April 2019; vol. 66 (no. 2); p.489-508 (subscription and log in required to see the full article)
An exclusive human milk diet (EHMD) using human milk based products (pre-term formula and fortifiers) has been shown to lead to significant clinical benefits for very low birth weight (VLBW) babies (below 1250 g). This is expensive relative to diets that include cow’s milk based products, but preliminary economic analyses have shown that the costs are more than offset by a reduction in the cost of neonatal care. However, these economic analyses have not completely assessed the economic implications of EHMD feeding, as they have not considered the range of outcomes affected by it.
The authors conducted an economic analysis of EHMD compared to usual practice of care amongst VLBW babies in the US, which is to include cow’s milk based products when required. Costs were evaluated from the perspective of the health care payer, with societal costs considered in sensitivity analyses. They found that an EHMD is dominant in cost-effectiveness terms, that is it is both cost-saving and clinically beneficial, for VLBW babies in a US-based setting.
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Although over the years a number of studies have used chest circumference (CC) as a sensitive tool to identify the health status of infants, a particularly important aspect for this population is the lack of data on normal values and prediction equations. In order to facilitate and validate the interpretation of CC data in newborn (NB), the aim was to study the relation between CC and other anthropometric variables and develop a predictive equation for CC in a population of full-term newborns.
A Cross-sectional study, was carried out with full-term infants. The anthropometric (CC, head circumference – HC, length, age and weight) and hemodynamic variables were evaluated during the first 24 h of life. Bivariate analysis was performed between CC and HC, weight, length and type of delivery, followed by multiple linear regression analysis, including variables that were significant in the bivariate analysis. For data analysis, we used the SPSS program, considering p < 0.05 and 95% CI.
The results show a positive correlation between CC and weight, length and HC, and based on the linear regression model, the predictive equation for CC is based only on weight and HC.
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A new NHS report examines how future incidents of brain injury at birth can be prevented and how families can be better supported.
A report from NHS Resolution assessing the first year of its innovative Early Notification (EN) scheme to drive improvements in maternity and neonatal services has shown that issues with neonatal care contributed to the baby’s outcome in nearly third of reviewed cases. The report notes that while ‘neonatal care is rarely the focus of investigations at a local level, or when being reviewed from a legal liability perspective’ the delivery of neonatal care – and initial resuscitation in particular – contributed to the poor outcome of babies in a third of cases which were reviewed.
Key issues identified were:
To read the Bliss response and to access the report in full please click here
