Mortality rates of very small babies (those weighing 1500 g or less) born to mothers normally resident in the 11 health districts of the London portion of the North-east Thames Health Region in 1971-73 and 1975-77 were compared with admission rates to neonatal intensive care units in 1972 and 1976 in the region. There was no significant correlation between mortality and admission rates for babi...

The rapid progress in medical and technical innovations in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) has been accompanied by concern for outcomes of NICU graduates. Although advances in neonatal care have led to significant changes in survival rates of very small and extremely preterm neonates, early feeding difficulties with the transition from tube feeding to oral feeding are prominent and ofte...

There are few specialized programs available to train occupational therapists and physical therapists to treat competently in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), yet hospitals are trying to fill such positions, and the need for advanced training is essential. A hospital-based program that provides clinical NICU training to therapists from other hospitals is presented. The program is short-te...

OBJECTIVES We aimed to improve the nutritional care of preterm infants by developing a complex (multifaceted) intervention intended to translate current evidence into practice. We used the sociological framework of Normalization Process Theory (NPT), to guide implementation in order to embed the new practices into routine care. DESIGN A prospective interventional study with a before and after...

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Clinical guidelines are tools that systematize scientific evidence and help to achieve proper care. Several difficulties are reported regarding the effective use, such as the shortcomings in the level of knowledge and attitudes by the professionals, the service structure and the preferences appointed by patients. An analysis of these difficulties was the objective...

Despite a decreasing trend in premature births, greater numbers of infants born at the limits of viability are surviving to discharge. Most of these infants have complex medical problems requiring multidisciplinary care. These infants are primarily cared for by the general pediatrician, but their needs are quite different from those of a full-term healthy newborn. The paucity of data regarding ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Treatment of suspected infection is a mainstay of the daily work in the NICU. We hypothesized that NICU antibiotic prescribing practice variation correlates with rates of proven infection, necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), mortality, inborn admission, and with NICU surgical volume and average length of stay. METHODS In a retrospective cohort study of 52,061 infants in...

The nurse has a key role in involving parents in the care of newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit. The aim of this study was to comprehend how the nurses experience the care provided to newborns in the presence of the parents. This is a qualitative study using social phenomenology, with the participation of seven nurses, interviewed between January and February 2009. The nurses perceive...