Umbilical cord blood culture for early onset sepsis in preterm infants.

BACKGROUND: Umbilical cord blood culture (UCBC) may have a diagnostic utility for early onset sepsis (EOS) detection in preterm infants. It may prevent sampling the newborn and collect a higher volume of blood for pathogenic identification. METHODS: Retrospective analysis at a tertiary care center in Canada of preterm infants ≤ 34 0/7 weeks' gestation with UCBC taken at birth. RESULTS: Of 505 admitted infants, 195 had UCBC. 170 UCBCs were negative; 44 of these had also negative neonatal blood culture (NBC). No infants with negative UCBC showed EOS symptoms in the first week of life. 25 UCBCs were positive: 18 were contaminants (all with negative NBC) and 7 were confirmed as EOS. 18 infants with UCBC contaminants remained asymptomatic. 7 EOS cases were identified, with varying bacteriological profiles; 5 displayed sepsis symptoms while 2 were asymptomatic. Risk of EOS increased with prolonged rupture of membranes. CONCLUSIONS: UCBC effectively detected EOS establishing it as a method with possibly better diagnostic performance than NBC in high-risk neonates. Further studies are needed to improve UCBC technique and lower contamination rates. IMPACT: Umbilical cord blood culture has a higher bacterial identification rate than peripheral venous blood culture for the early identification of early-onset sepsis in preterm infants. Umbilical cord blood cultures that showed no growth were reliable predictors of not developing early onset sepsis. Umbilical cord blood culture should be considered as part of the evaluation for early onset sepsis in the preterm infants.

Supine versus Prone Position during Delayed Cord Clamping in Infants ≥36 Weeks: A Randomized Trial.

OBJECTIVE: There is no recommendation in the literature on optimal positioning of the newborn immediately at birth during delayed cord clamping. To evaluate if prone positioning on the mother's chest at birth during delayed cord clamping leads to a higher hematocrit at 30 hours of life compared to supine positioning. STUDY DESIGN: A randomized unblinded trial comparing prone and supine position of the newborn before umbilical cord clamping. Healthy newborns ≥36 weeks gestational age and born vaginally with cephalic presentation were included. The newborn was randomized to prone or supine position. Umbilical cord clamping was delayed in both groups to 1 minute after birth. The primary outcome was hematocrit at 30 hours of life. As a secondary outcome, cerebral tissue oxygenation (CrSO2) values were compared between both groups by near infrared spectroscopy. RESULTS: There was no difference in hematocrit at 30 hours of life between supine and prone positions with a mean at 52 and 53.1, respectively, mean difference -1.1 (95% confidence interval:-2.7, 0.5), p = 0.17. Newborns in supine and prone positions had comparable level of CrSO2 at 30 hours of life with a mean at 84.1 and 82.2, respectively, mean difference 1.9 (-0.2, 4.0), p = 0.07. There was no correlation between hematocrit and CrSO2 at 30 hours of life (r = 0.14). CONCLUSION: There was no difference between prone and supine positioning immediately after birth during delayed cord clamping on hematocrit at 30 hours of life. In the absence of clear findings, further studies with assessment of the effect of position on breastfeeding success in the case room, on maternal satisfaction and outcome beyond 30 hours are needed to make adequate recommendations on positioning. KEY POINTS: · Delayed cord clamping at 60 seconds is recommended at birth, but optimal positioning is unknown.. · A randomized trial was conducted to compare hematocrit at 36 hours of life of prone versus supine position.. · No difference in hematocrit was found in prone versus supine position during delayed cord clamping..

Effect of an audience on trainee stress and performance during simulated neonatal intubation: a randomized crossover trial.

BACKGROUND: Neonatal intubation is a stressful procedure taught to trainees. This procedure can attract additional observers. The impact of observers on neonatal intubation performance by trainees has not been studied. Our objective was to evaluate if additional observers present during neonatal mannequin endotracheal intubation (NMEI) by junior trainees, affects their performance and their stress levels. METHODS: A randomized cross over trial was conducted. First year residents with no experience in neonatal intubation were assigned to NMEI condition A or B randomly on day 1. Subjects were crossed over to the other condition on day 2. Condition A: Only one audience member was present Condition B: Presence of an audience of 5 health care providers. Differences in the time to successful NMEI was recorded and compared between conditions. A portable heart rate monitor was used to measure peak heart rate above baseline during NMEI under both conditions. RESULTS: Forty nine residents were recruited. 72% were female with a median age of 25 years (IQR: 24-27). Time to successful intubation was comparable under both conditions with a mean difference of - 3.94 s (95% CI: -8.2,0.4). Peak heart rate was significantly lower under condition A (mean difference - 11.9 beats/min, 95% CI -15.98 to - 7.78). CONCLUSION: Although the time required to NMEI did not increase, our results suggest that presence of observers significantly increases trainee stress. The addition of extraneous observers during simulation training may better equip residents to deal with such stressors. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Date of registration: March 2016, NCT 02726724 .

Temperature Probe Placement during Preterm Infant Resuscitation: A Randomised Trial.

BACKGROUND: Hypothermia on admission to intensive care is associated with poor outcomes in preterm infants. The neonatal resuscitation program recommends the use of servo-control thermoregulation during resuscitation. Very little evidence exists to guide optimal temperature probe placement in the delivery room. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this work was to determine, in moderately preterm infants, if temperature probe placement in the dorsal, thoracic, or axillary area during delivery room resuscitation would result in differing temperatures on admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). METHODS: A randomised trial with 3 arms was conducted. In total, 122 inborn preterm infants born between 280/7 and 356/7 weeks of gestational age were recruited. The infants were randomly assigned to thermal probe placement in the left lower back, left upper thorax, or left axilla immediately after birth. Temperature was servo-controlled using an infant resuscitation table set to 36.5°C. The primary outcome was axillary temperature at admission to the NICU before transfer to a closed isolette, recorded with a digital thermometer. The secondary outcomes assessed were temperature within the target range (36.5-37.5°C), hypothermia (<36.5°C), and hyperthermia (>37.5°C). RESULTS: All 122 infants were available for outcome analysis. The groups were comparable for birthweight, gestational age, and sex. The mean admission temperature was comparable between the 3 probe positions (mean, 95% CI): dorsum (36.7°C, 36.6-36.8), thorax (36.8°C, 36.7-36.9), and axilla (36.7°C, 36.6-36.9), p = 0.43. The proportion of infants with admission temperatures in the target range was comparable (87.2, 81.4, and 72.5% respectively), p = 0.44. CONCLUSION: Dorsal, thoracic, or axillary temperature probe positioning during resuscitation yield similar admission temperatures in moderately preterm infants. Further studies are required in infants below 28 weeks of gestation to determine the best practice.

24/7 in house attending staff coverage improves neonatal short-term outcomes: A retrospective study.

OBJECTIVES: to compare short-term outcomes of newborns over 36 weeks with Apgar scores≤3 at 1min, following the adoption of a 24/7 in house coverage schedule STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective chart review comparing two 12-month epochs. Epoch 1: coverage provided by residents with availability on call at home of attending staff. Epoch 2: On site coverage by attending staff. RESULTS: 71 and 60 charts were reviewed from Epoch 1 and 2 respectively. The number of infants receiving chest compressions was reduced during Epoch 2 (from 19% to 1.6%, p<0.0001). The proportion of infants admitted to the NICU (81% vs 61%, p<0.01), and the median length of stay in hospital (61 vs 48h, p=0.03) were significantly reduced in Epoch 2. CONCLUSION(S): Continuous coverage by attending staff decreased the number of admissions to intensive care as well as the duration of hospitalization stay for newborns with low Apgar scores.

Episodes of apnea, desaturation and bradycardia and the development of necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm infants: a case-control study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate for any association between episodes of apnea, desaturation and bradycardia and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). METHODS: Case-control study in infants of gestational age < 30 weeks. For each NEC case we selected two controls. During the period from 2001 to 2007, data were extracted from the nurse's notes of the patient's medical records. A p < 0.05 was statistically significant. RESULTS: A total of 38 out of 394 infants had NEC (9.6%). There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics between the 2 groups, except for a lower proportion of infants who were receiving breast milk in the NEC group (p = 0.02). There was no difference in the overall number of apneas & bradycardias or severe episodes of desaturation & bradycardia between the 2 groups. CONCLUSION: No association between episodes of apnea, severe desaturations or bradycardia and development of NEC was observed in this preterm population.