Abstract

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

Author(s): Loersch F

In many hospitals, resuscitation and transfer of sick newborns from delivery room to NICU requires transfer from a radiant warmer to an incubator or use of a transport incubator for transfer to the NICU. This usually means significant thermal stress as well as possible respiratory and hemodynamic instability. We have reduced unnecessary transfers between beds for critically ill Neonates and VLBWI by using a hybrid (OmniBed), which incorporates an overhead warmer and an incubator into one device, to improve the thermoneutral environment during this early critical phase. The purpose of this study was to compare the impact of using this device on admission thermal stability and stress to the newborns with traditional caregiving methods.