OBJECTIVE Parents have the right to decide on behalf of their infants whether to enroll them in controlled clinical trials. We determined the degree to which such parental decisions are influenced by risk and benefit considerations compared with other factors. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. PARTICIPANTS Parents who had recently given or declined consent to one of three controlled trials in ...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to explore and describe the coping experiences of parents to children admitted to a neonatal unit. METHODS A qualitative research approach was chosen, using in-depth interviews with eight fathers and eight mothers. RESULTS The main findings were that parents with previous complicated births had more difficulties in coping compared to those parents with n...

Anthropometry measurements, such as height and weight, have recently been used to predict poorer birth outcomes. However, the relationship between maternal height and birth outcomes remains unclear. We examined the effect of shorter maternal height on low birth weight (LBW) among 17,150 pairs of Japanese mothers and newborns. Data for this analysis were collected from newborns who were delivere...

Medical management of newborn infants often necessitates recurrent painful procedures, which may alter nociceptive pathways during a critical developmental period and adversely effect neuropsychological outcomes. To mitigate the effects of repeated painful stimuli, opioid administration for peri-procedural analgesia and ICU (intensive care unit) sedation is common in the NICU (neonatal intensiv...

Endotracheal intubation is a common daily procedure used for sustaining life in premature and term neonates in the neonatal intensive care unit. This procedure can be associated with some iatrogenic complications. One of these complications is ingesting a laryngoscope light bulb, and it is an extremely rare complication in neonates. The consequences of ingestion or aspiration may be serious and...

INTRODUCTION The purpose of the study was to describe demographic and clinical characteristics and outbreak handling of a large methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) outbreak in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in Denmark June 25(th)-August 8(th) 2008, and to identify risk factors for MRSA transmission. METHODS Data were collected retrospectively from medical records and the...

Reduction of high-risk neonates' exposure to aversive light stimulation is an important component of developmentally supportive care. In neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), usually light is reduced by reducing the room's light level or by using incubator covers. Many types of incubator covers are in use, including homemade and commercial covers. A comparative study was used to determine the li...

Serratia marcescens is a well recognized nosocomial pathogen. We report an outbreak with this organism in 8 neonates in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Seven cases were treated successfully with meropenem after the failure of imipenem treatment. Although they have similar anti-microbial effects, meropenem can effectively treat the S. marcescens sepsis resistant to imipenem.

Preterm labor after 34 weeks of gestation has shown no great difference from full-term labor in terms of neonatal morbidity and mortality when proper antepartum management (antibiotics or steroids treatment) is done. However, various studies have discussed different views on the risks and safety of preterm delivery at 32(+0)-33(+6) weeks of gestation. We evaluated the complications of different...

OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of birth order on respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in the outcome of twins in a large premature population managed in a modern neonatal intensive care unit. METHODS An historical cohort study design was used to analyse the neonatal outcomes of 301 premature liveborn twin sibling pairs of between 23 and 31 weeks gestation from the Australia and New Zealand ...