Every year more than 500,000 babies are born prematurely in the United States and the majority of premature infants have breathing difficulties when they are born and is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions they will face. Oxygen therapy is the administration of oxygen at concentrations greater than that in room air to treat or prevent hypoxemia (not enough oxygen in the blood). Oxygen is considered a “drug” and both too much or too little can be detrimental to the health of premature babies in the neonatal ICU, therefore oxygen dosing needs to be closely monitored.
The current clinical practice is to monitor the oxygen saturation monitor display to guide how much extra oxygen a premature baby needs. However, the adjustment of the amount of extra oxygen that is given to a patient is not continuous or instantaneous. It depends entirely on a care provider noticing and responding to the oxygen saturation monitor in a timely fashion. This can be difficult in the busy neonatal ICU and premature babies, at any given time, may have periods of getting too much or too little supplemental oxygen because the care provider cannot react instantaneously. We Can Do Better…
DesignWise Medical’s response…