Innovation in immediate neonatal care: development of the Bedside Assessment, Stabilisation and Initial Cardiorespiratory Support (BASICS) trolley.

OBJECTIVE: Babies receive oxygen through their umbilical cord while in the uterus and for a few minutes after birth. Currently, if the baby is not breathing well at birth, the cord is cut so as to transfer the newborn to a resuscitation unit. We sought to develop a mobile resuscitation trolley on which newly born babies can be resuscitated while still receiving oxygenated blood and the 'placental transfusion' through the umbilical cord. This would also prevent separation of the mother and baby in the first minutes after birth. DESIGN: Multidisciplinary iterative product development. SETTING: Clinical Engineering Department of a University Teaching Hospital. METHODS: Following an initial design meeting, a series of prototypes were developed. At each stage, the prototype was reviewed by a team of experts in the laboratory and in the hospital delivery suite to determine ease of use and fitness for purpose. A commercial company was identified to collaborate on the trolley's development and secure marking with the Conformité Européenne mark, allowing the trolley to be introduced into clinical practice. RESULTS: The trolley is a small mobile resuscitation unit based on the concept of an overbed hospital table. It can be manoeuvred to within 50 cm of the mother's pelvis so that the umbilical cord can remain intact during resuscitation, irrespective of whether the baby is born naturally, by instrumental delivery or by caesarean section. Warmth for the newborn comes from a heated mattress and the trolley has the facility to provide suction, oxygen and air. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first mobile resuscitation device designed specifically to facilitate newborn resuscitation at the bedside and with an intact cord. The next step is to assess its safety, its acceptability to clinicians and parents, and to determine whether it allows resuscitation with an intact cord.

Analysing differences in clinical outcomes between hospitals.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the variation between hospitals in rates of severe intraventricular haemorrhage (IVH) in preterm babies adjusting for case mix and sampling variability. DESIGN: Cross sectional study of pooled data from 1995 to 1997. SETTING: 24 neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in the Australian and New Zealand Neonatal Network. PARTICIPANTS: 5413 infants of gestational age 24-30 weeks. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Crude rates of severe (grades 3 and 4) IVH and rates adjusted for case mix using logistic regression, and for sampling variability using shrinkage estimators. RESULTS: The overall rate of severe IVH was 6.8%, but crude rates for individual units ranged from 2.9 to 21.4%, with interquartile range (IQR) 5.7-8.1%. Adjusting for the five significant predictor variables--gestational age at birth, 1 minute Apgar score, antenatal corticosteroids, transfer after birth, and sex--actually increased the variability in rates (IQR 5.9-9.7%). Shrinkage estimators, which adjust for differences in unit sizes and outcome rates, reduced the variation in rates (IQR 6.3-7.5%). Adjusting for case mix and using shrinkage estimators showed that one unit had a significantly higher adjusted rate than expected, while another was significantly lower. If all units could achieve an average rate equal to the 20th centile (5.74%), then 60 cases of severe IVH could be prevented in a 3 year period. CONCLUSIONS: The use of shrinkage estimators may have a greater impact on the variation in outcomes between hospitals than adjusting for case mix. Greater reductions in morbidity may be achieved by concentrating on the best rather than the worst performing hospitals.

Perinatal risk factors for major intraventricular haemorrhage in the Australian and New Zealand Neonatal Network, 1995-97.

BACKGROUND: In 1995, large differences were identified in rates of grade 3-4 intraventricular/periventricular haemorrhage (major IVH) among neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in the Australian and New Zealand Neonatal Network. AIMS: To develop a predictive model for major IVH in order to allow risk adjustment for the variation in rates of major IVH among NICUs. METHODS: Rates of IVH were determined in 5712 infants of 24-30 weeks gestation born from 1995 to 1997. Significant antenatal and perinatal variables for major IVH in 1995 and 1996 were identified by univariate and multivariate analysis. A predictive model was developed and then validated on 1997 data. RESULTS: Rates of all grades of IVH fell from 1995 to 1997 (30.4 to 24.3%) but wide interunit variation remained. Seven antenatal and perinatal characteristics had significant association with major IVH: fetal distress, intrauterine growth restriction (protective), antenatal corticosteroids (protective), gestational age, 1 minute Apgar <4, male gender, and transfer after birth. A predictive model based on the last five of these variables was developed using data from 1995 and 1996 which gave an area under the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.76. This model was then validated on the 1997 dataset where an identical ROC curve resulted. CONCLUSIONS: Antenatal and perinatal factors are important in the pathogenesis of major IVH. The predictive model developed from these factors can be used to adjust for confounders in interunit outcome comparison.

The management of varicella-zoster virus exposure and infection in pregnancy and the newborn period. Australasian Subgroup in Paediatric Infectious Diseases of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases.

Zoster immunoglobulin (ZIG) should be offered to pregnant, varicella-seronegative women with significant exposure to varicella-zoster virus (VZV) (chickenpox) infection. Oral aciclovir prophylaxis should be considered for susceptible pregnant women exposed to VZV who did not receive ZIG or have risk factors for severe disease. Intravenous aciclovir should be given to pregnant women who develop complicated varicella at any stage of pregnancy. Counselling on the risk of congenital varicella syndrome is recommended for pregnant women who develop chickenpox. ZIG should be given to a baby whose mother develops chickenpox up to 7 days before delivery or up to 28 days after delivery. Intravenous aciclovir should be given to babies presenting unwell with chickenpox, whether or not they received ZIG. Breastfeeding of babies infected with or exposed to VZV is encouraged. A mother with chickenpox or zoster does not need to be isolated from her own baby. If siblings at home have chickenpox, a newborn baby should be given ZIG if its mother is seronegative. The newborn baby does not need to be isolated from its siblings with chickenpox, whether or not the baby was given ZIG. After significant nursery exposure to VZV, ZIG should be given to seronegative babies and to all babies born before 28 weeks' gestation.