New Ventilator Helps Premature Infants

DANBURY — Danbury Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is obtaining a new high frequency ventilator to help the ever-increasing needs of the hospital’s tiniest patients.. The money was raised by the hospital development fund’s “A Day to Make a Difference” in September.

According to Edward James, MD, chief, of neonatology, a high frequency ventilator has significant benefits over the older technology. The machine enables ventilation of delicate premature lungs without the harsh effects of the conventional machine, increasing a child’s survival without long-term disability.

With the arrival of this latest technology and following the completion of staff education, Danbury Hospital’s NICU will be upgraded to a Level IIIB NICU, which includes access to a high frequency oscillatory ventilator, availability of a lung function enhancing drug called nitric oxide, and some pediatric surgery.

According to the March of Dimes, premature births increased almost 31 percent over the past two decades. Every year, nearly 500,000 infants are born prematurely. Preterm delivery can happen to any pregnant woman and it is happening more and more often. In nearly half the cases, no one knows why.

In FY05, Danbury Hospital’s NICU also experienced an increased census with an influx of multiple births. As of July of this year, NICU staff saw a greater than 50 percent increase in the number of multiples cared for in the NICU since the same period last year. Thanks to perinatologist Gerard Foye, MD, who predicted the increase in multiple births due to infertility interventions for women with problems conceiving on their own, the NICU was prepared.

With a census capacity of 18, the NICU accommodated the flood of multiple births with a strategic overflow plan that minimized the need to transfer babies to area hospitals while meeting all normal care parameters, including equipment, staffing, and patient satisfaction.

As reported in July, a NICU team including Maryalice Cullen, RN, NICU nurse manager, Dr James, Leticia Agosto, RN, Family Birth Center nurse manager, and Catherine Andrew, service line executive, Women’s Services & Children’s Services, developed a state-approved overflow plan to create additional space. When the NICU reaches a census of 15 with no anticipated discharges for the next 24 hours, a room normally used as a well-baby nursery and/or a staff education room is transformed into a NICU annex that can accommodate three additional NICU babies.

Everyday, Ms Cullen and Dr James check the census to determine whether they have to open the annex. They also check in with labor and delivery, as well as Drs Foye and Christopher Sullivan, MD, director of maternal and fetal medicine, regarding the timing of potential patients.

“We are keeping with the national trend of an increased number of babies being born even though the actual number of deliveries is decreasing,” said Dr Foye this summer. “And, because they’re multiples, they’re more apt to be high risk.”

The Prematurity Campaign

The March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign is a multimillion-dollar research, awareness. and education campaign to help families have healthier babies. The campaign includes:

Funding research to find the causes of premature birth.

Educating women about the risk reduction strategies, including the signs and symptoms of premature labor.

Providing support to families affected by prematurity.

Expanding access to health care coverage so that more women can get prenatal care.

Helping health care providers learn ways to help reduce the risk of early delivery.

Advocating for access to insurance to improve maternity care and infant health outcomes.

For more information about Prematurity Awareness Month and the March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign, visit www.marchofdimes.com.