Premature Neonate

Thermoregulation is a critical physiologic function that is closely related to the transition and survival of the infant. An understanding of transitional events and the physiologic adaptations that neonates must make is essential to helping the nurse provide an appropriate environment and help infants maintain thermal stability.

After the delivery, the heat from the mom’s body can warm the baby and maintains the baby’s body temperature. For instance, when nursing students were at the operating room at Saint Peter’s Hospital during the C-section delivery, as soon as the baby was out, the doctor placed the newborn on the mother’s chest. When the mother was alert and awake during the C-section made it possible for the baby to stay on her chest on the first hours after the birth. It was one of the most beautiful moments in life. Nevertheless, there was another C-section birth of diabetic mother. She was not fully awake during the C-section and the doctor only did not promote skin-to-skin mother and the newborn. The doctors and nurses at Saint Peter’s Hospital support and encourage skin-to-skin for mother and newborn right after the birth if there is no complication on mother or baby or when the condition is possible. Saint Peter’s Hospital has policy for vaginal delivery, “all infants that meet the criteria for initiate skin-to-skin care shall have skin-to-skin care implemented as the standard of care immediately after birth and as needed thereafter regardless of feeding preference”. They promote skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby immediately after delivery. However, mothers and babies have a physiologic need to be together during the minutes, hours, and days following birth, and this time together significantly improves maternal and newborn outcomes.

Articles discussing the accurate recordings of pediatric patient’s body temperature were cited in this article. A logical sequence is followed in the literature review. It begins with a general overview of the historical importance of accurately recording a patient’s body temperature. The authors get more specific and cite studies on temperature recording techniques in children. For instance, in justifying conflicting data, the researchers cite a similar study conducted on new born babies by Polit & Beck (2008), where the recordings from the two methods were

According to the World Health Organisation [WHO] (2014) pre-term babies are at increased risk of illness, disability and death. It also states that globally 15 million babies are born pre-term and the figures are rising. In England and Wales during 2012 7.3% of live births were pre-term under 37 weeks nearly 85% of all babies born prematurely will have a very low birth weight (Office for National Statistics, 2012). Pre-term birth is associated with respiratory complications and lung disease, long-tern neurological damage and problems with bowel function (Henderson & Macdonald, 2011). Neonatal services provide care to babies who are born prematurely or are ill and require specialist care. It is seen that sixty per cent of infant deaths occur in the neonatal period (DH,

Premature newborns have an increased risk of complications because their bodies still have underdeveloped parts such as the lungs, digestive system, immune system, and skin. Thus, promoting oxygenation, nutrition, and fluid balance, maintaining thermal regulation, resuscitation and transferring the newborn to NICU unit will help the child to get better (Ricci el., 2017, pg. 887).

For the past two decades, the limit of gestational viability has been 22-24 weeks (Bhat, Weinberger, & Hanna, 2012). Around 50 years ago, a premature infant born between 22-24 weeks was not considered viable and resuscitation was only considered at 27-28 weeks (Kushchel & Kent, 2011). Medicine and technology advances have improved neonatology drastically and infants are surviving at lower gestational ages. However, many studies show very low survival rates of 22-week neonates and some physician refuse to resuscitate and provide only comfort care. In the NICHD Neonatal Network between 2003 and 2007, infants that were incubated and resuscitated had a 6% survival rate at 22 weeks and a 55% survival rate at 24 weeks (Bhat et al, 2012). Another study followed a hospital for many years were they delivered 85 infants at 22-week

     The authors (Chiu, Anderson, & Burkhammer, 2005) of the article present all the essential components of the research study. There will be a decrease in temperature in the newborn if having difficulties breastfeeding while having skin-to-skin contact with the mother. That was the inferred hypothesis. The method used to gather the information was a pretest-test-posttest study design and the sample consisted of 48 full-term infants. The key findings showed most infants reached and maintained temperatures between 36.5 and 37.6 degrees Celsius, the thermo neutral range, with only rare exceptions.

Some of these interventions are as simple as waiting a few more seconds before clamping the cord at delivery and/or milking the umbilical cord, to more advanced interventions such as mechanical ventilation. With any medical intervention, there are side effects and long-term disabilities that may occur in relation to the intervention itself. In the high-intensity NICU, it comes down to weighing the positives and negatives, and choosing the option that will give the neonate the greatest outcome and the best fighting chance of survival. More research needs to be done to determine the long term effects of some of the interventions mentioned in this paper, and how the formerly preterm neonates are living with a disability they may have acquired as a result of those interventions. All medical professionals can hope for is that when a patient comes through the door, they receive the best and most up-to-date care possible, while also remaining free of long term negative effects. As with any population, premature infants - especially those born before 28 weeks of gestation, require strong-willed support from the staff, as well as from their families. It is not easy to care for such fragile human beings, but in the end, when the interventions work, and those neonates are healthy enough to move on with their lives and go home, it all becomes worth

There are seven main principles in the Neonatal Integrative Developmental Care Model: a healing environment, partnership with family, positioning and handling, safeguarding sleep, minimizing stress and pain, protecting skin, and optimizing nutrition. These seven measures are used to provide optimal health care, both long term and short term, for premature infants. One of the most important elements of healing for premature infants is skin to skin contact. The Neonatal Integrative Developmental Care Model includes neuroprotective techniques to produce a combination of neurological, physical, and emotional development and avoid the development of disabilities. Parents are able to restore their parent-infant attachment, in this model, which helps both infants and parents health. NICU staff are not taught the neuroprotective skills during their training but have to be further educated. In order to ensure an optimal NICU, all NICU staff should be taught these skills during their training. Developmentally supportive care should be seen as a necessity not as an option. Optimal health care for premature infants also depends on the leadership and passion of NICU staff. There needs to be role model staff members that will train and set a high standard for other NICU member. (Altimier, L., & Phillips, R.

In this article, DiBlasi argues that the conventional method used to provide ventilatory support to preterm neonates with respiratory distress syndrome; nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is ineffective. The author bases the claim on the fact that almost half of the infants supported by this technique often develop respiratory failure that warrants invasive ventilatory support and endotracheal intubation that is injurious in nature. According to the author, invasive ventilatory procedures should be avoided to minimize the excessive complications that are usually associated with them.

PDA is often treated with indomethacin or ibuprofen. Consequently, if the medications do not work, surgery is required to clamp the ductus arteriosus closed. The ductus arteriosus closes on its own after a normal full term birth. Along with respiratory and heart complications, premature infants have difficulties maintaining body temperature. Premature infants are not born with enough body fat to maintain a constant healthy temperature. Infants are therefore placed in an incubator to aid in maintaining a constant temperature. This device provides a controlled temperature and surroundings for the premature infant. A tiny thermometer is taped to the infant, allowing nurses to monitor the infant’s core temperature closely. The temperature must be at a constant 98.6 degrees to help the infant grow and thrive. In addition to heart and respiratory complications, premature infants also suffer from gastrointestinal problems. Gastrointestinal Reflux, GER, is a gastrointestinal problem that many premature infants encounter. “Severe GER can cause feeding difficulties, irritability, poor weight gain, and respiratory problems” (“Short-and Long-term Challenges of Prematurity”). Infants with GER tend to spit up

In today's society, biomedical health issues have been rising, and due to both the media and very opinionated people being involved, these issues have brought much controversy to the medical world. Child mortality and premature birth is just one out of many of the controversial health topics out there, however with a countless number of children who are affected by abuse and parental negligence, it can be argued as one of the most important controversial topics. With scientists and doctors performing many studies on premature children, it is crucial that both parties are aware of what is going on and that tests are not performed without consent. While premature birth can be

It is known that then stimulation of infants during the first few months is important for proper development to take place. Following, we will review the importance of both a stimulating environment and the need for physical stimulation provided by caregivers.

Newborn intensive care is care for critically ill newborns requiring constant nursing, complicated surgical procedures, regular respiratory support, or other intensive interventions. An infant is considered premature if he or she is born before 37 weeks of gestation and weighs less than 2,500 grams (g). A very low birth weight (VLBW) infant is a child born weighing under 1,500 g

The main undeveloped parts of these babies are their vital organs such as the brain and also the lungs, which are developed in the last weeks of a full term baby’s gestation. As these parts of the body are undeveloped, many babies have to rely on a ventilator to aid and support their breathing. Very pre term babies are fed through an Intravenous (IV) line via a thin tube into their vein and the nutrient goes straight into their bloodstream. From here, the nurses feed the baby some of the mother’s colostrum so that its digestive system can mature and the baby can move onto tube feeding.