OBJECTIVE To explore Colombian health care provider perceptions of barriers and facilitators to preparing families with premature infants for discharge home from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). METHODOLOGY Using a qualitative descriptive design, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen neonatal health care providers (HCPs) in Colombia. Data were analyzed using ...

Systemic hypotension is common in very low birthweight preterm infants but the nature of the precipitating cause may be unclear. Targeted neonatal echocardiography (TnEcho) is being increasingly used to support hemodynamic decisions in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), including identifying impairments in the transitional circulation of preterm infants, providing timely re-evaluation aft...

Osteopenia of prematurity has become a common problem recently because of improved survival rates of infants with very low birth weight (VLBW). The incidence of neonatal osteopenia is inversely correlated with gestational age and birth weight. Herein, we present four cases of preterm osteopenia that were referred to the pediatric endocrinology outpatient clinic with diverse clinical and laborat...

This is a retrospective case control study. Out of a total of 1238 births occurring over a period of 8 months at the Aga Khan University Medical Centre, Karachi, 9.4% were preterm. Factors found to be associated with preterm labour were age > 35, height < 156 cm, anaemia or urinary tract infection in pregnancy, abruptio placentae, polyhydramnios, preterm rupture of membranes, intrauterine growt...

The Canadian Neonatal Network conducted a trial of Evidence-Based Practice for Improving Quality (EPIQ) between 2002 and 2005. Improved neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) outcomes established credibility for quality improvement. We surveyed team members and physician leaders to examine critical success factors and barriers to improvement during EPIQ. Respondents agreed that EPIQ had a high uti...

Gastroschisis is an abdominal wall defect, typically located to the right of the umbilical cord, requiring an early surgical treatment shortly after birth. Affected patients can be identified during intrauterine life with US and should be delivered in referral hospitals where a multisciplinary approach can be provided, involving neonatologists, clinical geneticists, surgeons and other specialis...

Infants hospitalised in neonatal intensive care units require interventions for lifesaving and to meet basic human needs. Evidence that stress influences neurodevelopment suggests the effects of caregiving unit (NICU) warrant further investigation assess links with infant developmental outcomes. This review explores nurse-delivered NICU on physiological behavioural responses, longer-term outcom...

Background Respiratory viral infections remain an underrecognized cause of morbidity and mortality among preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Case Report An eight day old, 650 gram birth weight, 23 weeks' gestational age female developed "culture-negative" sepsis manifested by respiratory deterioration, hypoxia, leukocytosis, and thrombocytopenia. She was diagnosed with p...

Candida parapsilosis is an increasingly important bloodstream pathogen in neonatal intensive care units (NICU). We investigated a cluster of bloodstream infections in a NICU to determine whether nosocomial transmission occurred. During a 3-day period, 3 premature infants hospitalized in the same unit presented with sepsis caused by C. parapsilosis. Electrophoretic karyotype of the organisms was...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the variation in the survival rate and the mortality rates for very preterm infants across Europe. DESIGN A prospective birth cohort of very preterm infants for 10 geographically defined European regions during 2003, followed to discharge home from hospital. PARTICIPANTS All deliveries from 22 + 0 to 31 + 6 weeks' gestation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE All outcomes of pr...