Practical Procedures

Dear Neonatal community, We are currently in the process of acquiring a new neonatal POCUS machine, with our primary focus being on vascular access, cranial, pulmonary, and cardiovascular assessments. We would love to hear your recommendations: what is your preferred ultrasound machine for the NICU, and why? Internally, we are debating our primary goal. We are weighing the benefits of a highly agile, compact machine that lowers the threshold for frequent bedside use, versus a higher-end system optimized for comprehensive cardiovascular workups (which may sacrifice some of that maneuverability). We can still get a full cardiovascular assesment from our pediatric cardiologi…

Keen to get a sense of practice across units on this. In a centre I used to work in in Canada, prone positioning with a UVC/UAC in place was common practice after 48h. Curious what others do. The evidence base is thin either way — the only NICU-specific study I can find (Arnts et al. 2014, Open J Nursing) is a small single-centre pilot with no supine comparator, and no RCT exists. Would be useful to hear: Prone allowed with UC in situ? From what age/dwell time? Written into local guidance, or informal practice? Anyone audited complication rates by position? https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=51831

dear sir What should you do if your baby needs phototherapy while using hypothermia?

How smart are IV pumps, really? NEVAT (Neonatal European Vascular Access Team) is conducting an international survey exploring clinicians' experiences with infusion safety and flow variability during neonatal intravenous therapy. [survey link] We are currently receiving responses from neonatal clinicians around the world, but we need additional participants to strengthen the study and improve a more global representation. The survey takes approximately 2.5 minutes and is completely anonymous. Every Drop Counts.

Hi Everyone Whilst we have Intraosseous devices on our resuscitation trolleys the question has been raised that they are used so infrequently how do we ensure that we maintain training and competence in its use? How have other Units dealt with this? As one of my colleagues astutely observed, training does not necessarily confer competence. Thank you for your thoughts Al

Hello 99ers, A little belated but Happy New Year to everyone. I work in a tertiary centre in the UK and have been approached in regard to adopting the use of cyanoacrylate glue for line fixation. Would be extremely grateful for your thoughts, opinions and experiences on its use. I am not sensing a wide ‘buy in’ in the UK currently and would like to unpick any themes. Grateful for your time. Warmest wishes Al

Hi everybody! We are conducting a survey to assess the perceptions and/or use of autologous cord blood transfusion for neonatal cardiac surgery. Please, all of you working with congenital heat disease, help us out! It will only take 5 minutes. Thank you so much! https://forms.office.com/e/PU1Z0pexXN

How long can a Umbilical Artery line and an Umbilical Venous Line be used in an ELBW neonate when PICC line is not available. Various centers follow different protocols. Your views please

In ventilated babies requiring MRI, when feed and wrap technique is not effective resulting in motion artefacts affecting image quality, what is your experience with using sedation such as buccal midazalam.

Dear Colleagues, A collaborative team of Spanish and Italian researchers specialized in neonatal pharmacology, infectious diseases, and vascular access has developed a survey focused on managing vascular access devices across Europe. Some team members are affiliated with the European Society of Pediatric Research (ESPR) and the European Society of Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care (ESPNIC). The survey aims to better understand how neonatologists manage vascular access devices in European Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) during clinical practice. Additionally, we strive to explore the potential adherence to local or international guidelines. We recommend that the …