Normative Data of Optimally Placed Endotracheal Tube by Point-of-care Ultrasound in Neonates

Objective: To derive normative data of the distance betweenoptimally placed endotracheal tube tip and arch of aorta byultrasound in neonates across different weight and gestation.Design: Cross-sectional study.Setting: Tertiary care neonatal intensive care unit from April 2015to May 2016.Participants: All neonates requiring endotracheal intubation wereeligible for the study.Methods: During intubation, insertional length was determinedusing weight-based formula. The distance between endotrachealtube tip and arch of aorta was measured by ultrasound.Endotracheal tube position was confirmed by chest radiograph.Results: Out of 133 enrolled infants, 101 (75.9%) had optimallyplaced endotracheal tubes. The mean (SD) distance betweenendotracheal tube tip and arch of aorta by ultrasound was 0.78(0.21) cm in infants <1500 g and 1.04 (0.32) cm in infants ≥1500 g.The regression equation to estimate insertional length fromweight, crown heel length (CHL), occipito-frontal circumference(OFC), nasal tragus length (NTL) and sternal length (SL) wereWt(kg)+4.95, 0.15×CHL(cm)+0.57, 0.22×OFC(cm)+0.49, 0.82×NTL(cm)+1.24 and 0.75×SL(cm)+2.26, respectively.Conclusion: Our study reports normative data of the distancebetween optimally placed endotracheal tube tip and arch of aortaby ultrasound in neonates. The distance between endotrachealtube tip and arch of aorta increases with increase in weight andgestation. Insertional length correlates strongly with all theanthropometric parameters

Impact of Quality Improvement Program on Expressed Breastmilk Usage in Very Low Birth Weight Infants

Objective: To improve the usage of expressed breast milk invery low birth weight infants admitted in the neonatal intensivecare unit of a tertiary centre in India.Methods: Between April 2015 and August 2016, various Plan-do-act-study cycles were conducted to test change ideas likeantenatal counselling including help of brochure and video, post-natal telephonic reminders within 4-6 hours of birth,standardization of Kangaroo mother care, and non-nutritivesucking protocol. Data was analyzed using statistical processcontrol charts.Results: 156 very low birth weight infants were deliveredduring the study period, of which 31 were excluded due tovarious reasons. Within 6 months of implementation, theproportion of very low birth weight infants who receivedexpressed breast milk within 48 hours improved to 100% from38.7% and this was sustained at 100% for next 8 months. Themean time of availability and volume of expressed breast milkwithin 48 hours, improved gradually from 73.3 h to 20.9 h and 4.7mL to 15.8 mL, respectively. The mean proportion of expressedbreast milk once infant reached a feed volume of 100 mL/kg/dayalso improved from 61.3% to 82.3%.Conclusion: Quality improvement interventions showedpromising results of increased expressed breast milk usage invery low birth weight infants.