 Years
of technological advancements have led to steady increases in the
number of premature babies who survive after being born weeks, or
even months, before they are due. Researchers are now starting
to look more closely at the effects this advanced technology may
have on the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) environment and the
brain development of premature babies."This is an issue of
interest to neonatal intensive care units internationally," says Dr.
William Liu, a neonatologist with The Children's Hospital of
Southwest Florida. "We know that premature babies are exposed
to the NICU during a critical period of brain development."
Dr. Liu was one of several physicians who led a research project
titled," Vermont Oxford Neonatal Quality Improvement Collaborative,"
that combined the efforts of physician researchers and other staff
from four hospital NICUs in the United States and Canada. The
first step of the research project included a literature review of
hundreds of existing studies from fields such as neonatology,
nursing, neuroscience, developmental biology, developmental
psychobiology and other disciplines. "We reviewed existing
evidence to identify potentially better care practices that support
newborn brain development," Dr. Liu says. Sixteen practices were
identified that may allow for more optimal brain development, which
may in turn lower the likelihood of developmental problems, such as
sensory issues and learning disabilities. The identified practices
included concepts like minimizing direct light and ambient noise,
encouraging appropriate tactile stimulation and preserving natural
sleep patterns through the bundling of care practices and skilled
management of pain relief medication. Several of the practices
were further examined by quantitative research in the five
participating hospital NICUs. "Neurodevelopmental growth in
extremely premature infants is clearly an exploding field of
research," says Dr. John Iacuone, Executive Director of The
Children's Hospital. "We are honored, with our peers, to be at
the forefront of this cutting edge research." The Children's
Hospital is already taking advantage of knowledge gained from this
research. "We have incorporated techniques for sound-dampening
and minimizing direct light into the architectural designs for the
new six-bed NICU that is being built adjacent to our current NICU,"
says Dr. Iacuone. The new unit is expected to open in April.
Staff at The Children's Hospital NICU also employ several of the
practices to optimize the physical environment in the current unit,
such as replacing noisy older equipment with quieter new models and
having specific "touch times" where family members and staff
interact with the babies to minimize over-stimulation and preserve
sleep patterns.
William Liu, M.D.
Associates in Neonatology
9981 S. HealthPark Dr., #281
Fort Myers, FL 33908
239-432-3645 |
