Journal of Neonatal Nursing

Editorial board

2011-12-01

How will the financial down turn effect neonatal care

Dee Beresford — 2011-10-10

At the time of writing, the leaves are falling and we are heading into autumn. By the time you read this it is very possible that we will be into the grips of winter, snow and chilling winds. Whatever the weather this winter, the economic winds are as chilling as they can be, with daily forecasts of the worst ever national debt, bankrupt banks and falling living standards. As David Cameron put it, we are staring down a barrel. However you put it, the global economy looks grim. Thinking about this, I couldn’t help but wonder how all of this would affect neonatal care and in particular, how it is provided in the decades to come. Could the financial climate change neonatal care as we know it today?

Neonatal health care in Nepal

Shobha Nepali — 2011-09-07

Nepal is a small mountainous country situated between two large countries: China and India. The country is long east to west with roughly brick shape and divided into three geographical areas: Mountain 25% of the total area covered with snow lies to the north; Hill 58% of the total land in the middle, which has mild weather and Terai (low land) 17% of the total area to the south that is hot and humid in summer. All these three belts have extended from east to west. Hence, this article will discuss how these features along with other administrative and technical problems have challenged the neonatal health care delivery in Nepal and how they can be addressed within the country.

The effects of therapeutic hypothermia on term infants with neonatal asphyxial encephalopathy

Siri St. Llaurent Kowalski — 2011-10-14

Abstract: Therapeutic hypothermia in term infants with neonatal asphyxial encephalopathy has been shown to have beneficial effects in relation to neurodevelopmental outcome and survival. This paper is a critical appraisal of two studies, which compares and contrasts the methodology and findings, and incorporates a synthesis of findings with reflection on clinical practice.

Risk factors for intra-hospital transport of newborn patients: A new solution to an old problem

F. Loersch, M. Schindler, K. Starr, J. Moore, L. Lynam Bayne — 2011-09-30

Abstract: Evidence continues to demonstrate neonatal hypothermia and hyperthermia on admission to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). This article focuses on review of current literature and a description of recent research comparing intra-hospital transfers from the delivery room to the NICU, in the Giraffe OmniBed® and a traditional infant in-house transport system. Additionally a comparison of newborn NICU admission temperature measured at the rectum is described between the two transport systems. Secondary goals to reduce unnecessary transfer between thermal microenvironments and to examine staff efficiencies are discussed. Results demonstrated the use of the Giraffe OmniBed reduced bed transfers from 4 microenvironments (delivery room warmer, delivery scale, transport incubator, and NICU incubator) to 1 microenvironment (Giraffe OmniBed). Staff efficiencies also improved as time of birth to NICU admission was reduced to less than 26 min with the Giraffe OmniBed compared to 34 min under traditional approaches. The Giraffe OmniBed for stabilization through to NICU admission showed temperature 0.49 °C higher in the Giraffe OmniBed compared to the conventional transport incubator.

First Neonatal Graduates Ever in Northern Ireland

2011-09-07

The School of Nursing & Midwifery in Queen’s University, Belfast celebrated the first group of neonatal graduates ever in N.Ireland at the July 2011 ceremony. Two degree programmes, BSc(Hons) Enhanced Neonatal Studies and the BSc(Hons) Neonatal Studies resulted in 7 graduates, six of them work in the Royal Jubilee Regional Neonatal Unit in Belfast. Both these programmes are part-time study so the students worked full time whilst undertaking their studies.

First family-centred care coordinators appointed to support families through the difficult and stressful time of having a baby in neonatal care

Lyndsey Hookway, Bobbie Everson — 2011-10-20

Few would dispute that family-centred care should be incorporated into the day to day medical and nursing care of infants (), and indeed, it is not a new concept, having evolved over the last 50 years (). Conscious of the increasing evidence for the importance of family-centred care, many neonatal units have made huge leaps forward in their efforts to encourage and support parents to be at the centre of their child’s care. However, it is clear from the current literature that in the past, family-centred care across the country has been patchy and often non-existent (). For some areas, it is a concept that perhaps has been seen as a ‘bolt-on’ and in a financially stretched NHS, a luxury - that whilst theoretically subscribed to, cannot realistically be put into practice.

Jemima Walsh’s story

2011-10-05

Twins Florence and Jack Walsh were born prematurely on November 26, 2009. Florence weighed 790 g and Jack 900 g. Both babies were transferred from Chelsea and Westminster hospital to Kingston hospital, where the twins were due to be born.

Hyperbilirubinemia in the late pre-term neonate

Deborah Dinsmoor — 2011-09-28

It was with great interest that I read the article on hyperbilirubinemia () in the August, 2011 issue of Journal of Neonatal Nursing. As a neonatal nurse for 20 years and a member of the management team in a large maternity hospital in the United States, I am very concerned about the timely diagnosis of hyperbilirubinemia in the late pre-term infant. In response to the 2004 American Academy of Pediatrics guideline on the management of hyperbilirubinemia, the physicians at my hospital implemented a mandatory total serum bilirubin (TSB) level at 36 h of age on every infant. Importantly, this includes those pre-term or late pre-term babies who are most at risk ().

Parental satisfaction with quality of care in neonatal follow-up programs

Sabrina E. Wong, Michelle L. Butt, Amanda Symington, Janet Pinelli — 2010-08-16

Abstract: The primary purpose of this study was to describe parental satisfaction with the quality of care received in the Neonatal Follow-up Clinic (NFC). Study participants included 218 mothers and 215 high-risk children who were part of a larger study to develop an NFC-specific instrument, the Parent Satisfaction Questionnaire for Neonatal Follow-up (PSQ-NFU), to measure parental satisfaction with quality of care. Parents completed the 16-item PSQ-NFU while waiting for their child’s NFC appointment. A high mean parental satisfaction score of 93.5 (SD = 12.3) was reported (possible scores range from 16 [least satisfied] to 112 [most satisfied]). Hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis revealed that study site was significantly associated with parental satisfaction scores (p < 0.001); and, abnormal neurodevelopmental status of the child contributed to lower parental satisfaction scores, but only in combination with study site (p = 0.029). Future studies of families of varying ethic and socioeconomic backgrounds in different NFC settings would add to the current knowledge.