Neonatal Nursing & Family-Centered Care

We are in the process of revising our policy regarding monitoring of those newborns at risk for hypoglycemia i.e.- LGA, IDM,IUGR, SGA, post dates, near term, etc. Trying to get a feel for policies at other hospitals.

I have been reading about head cooling as a prophylaxis for HIE. As this is a new treatment modality I was wondering if anyone using it has developed a protocol for caring for the infant during this treatment and if so, would you be willing to share the protocol with 99NICU? What problems have you encountered and how have you addressed them? How about issues with the parents during the treatment? As many of us are anxiously awaiting the implementation of this treatment where we work, I am fairly certain everyone would appreciate all information which can be shared.

Hello to all, Currently the clinical practice in our NICU is to always return the pre-sample blood, after the sample blood has been obtained from an arterial line. Would appreciate any advice or info re evidence-based reseach in regards to this clinical practice issue. Thanks! Ronel (NICU RN)

Is there any safe minimum weight/corrected gestational age for preterm babies to fly in airplanes? (Preterm with no chronic lung disease. ) Any references ?

Any views please on whether ecg monitoring is preferable to pulse oximetry alone in neonates? Practice is varied in UK but unable to find supporting evidence.

Hi, How do you clean your NICU?(floor,Wall, equipment....)what detergent do you use for incubator , floor,..? with which interval do you clean them ?Do you wash the incubator in each shift?thanks

What weight do you wean from isolettes? Do you use gestational age to factor when to wean or just weight?

There is a discussion in our neonatal ward of the positioning of the ELBW (< 1000g) in the first three days of life. We think about the risk of cerebral bleeding in prone position, on the other hand prone may be better for breathing. Perhaps there is a differnce between a preterm with bubble-CPAP and invasive respirtory support.? Do you have a protocol for positioning in your ward?

Hi, This link is an inevitable outcome of time. http://www.narof.org/ Love. Roy.

dear friends presenting you an eye opener. The baby came to us on day 5 of life. Paents applied the glove on baby's hand. The glove had string on the end to fix the glove on wrist. Unknowingly the string might have been tightened a bit more & it led to tremendous pressure on radial-ulnar arteries so much enough to generate ischemia of the hand. The baby had the glove on for 24 hrs. The parents recognised it only when baby started crying the next day and they opened the glove just in attempt to remove clothes and bath the baby..! The hand was red inflammed and in pre-gangrenous changes...! the string application had made a tight band like strip on wrist...! this …