Lee High School

Saving little lives with technology.

Neonatal Nurse

Jennifer I. Loredo Ortega

Senior Capstone

Brian Cahoon

03/13/2018
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Jennifer I. Loredo Ortega

Senior Capstone

Brian Cahoon

03/13/2018

Saving little lives with technology.

Prematurity is a big health problem worldwide that increases over time. “Every year, one

out of every nine babies in the U.S. is born premature and can spend weeks in the neonatal

intensive care unit (NICU)” (Colleen Cappon). Premature babies are more likely to die quickly

than babies who are born on time. Premature babies can develop serious complications that can

lead to death. These complications can be: Respiratory distress syndrome, Intraventricular

hemorrhage, Necrotizing enterocolitis, and infections. Nowadays, thanks to advances in

technology, babies can grow faster and families can take them home sooner and the mortality

rate in premature infants has decreased in the 21st century. ​In the 21st century, technology has

advanced to benefit neonatal nursing by introducing important elements such as Pea Pod,

Lifenest, and the artificial womb.

"The Pea Pod is important in helping the NICU team facilitate a healthy weight gain in

the smallest infants by calculating the amount of lean mass and body fat in the infant on a daily

or weekly basis" (Charles Simmons). The PeaPod is a medical device designed to measure the

body composition of premature infants. The baby is placed in a heated chamber that looks like a

small MRI machine for approximately three minutes. Using a special air displacement method,

the machine senses change in pressure and can determine the percentage of body weight that is

fat and the percentage that is lean body mass. “With this information, neonatal nurses can then
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personalize the baby's nutritional supplements to help with appropriate weight gain” (Colleen

Cappon). This medical tool has made a drastic change in the development of health and growth

of a premature baby and has helped neonatal nurses to improve and facilitate their work because

they are using a reliable tool that gives them accurate results.

“The nursing staff is highly organized, very experienced, skilled, and demanding of itself

and its medical colleagues” (John M. Driscoll). Neonatal nurses have a great responsibility on

the lives of babies who could not be born on time, that is why neonatal nurses need the best of

the best technology to keep babies healthy, and give them the best care at all the sense.

Premature babies need a special place where they can lie down, since their organs and their body

is not well developed, several diseases can develop in the infant. Lifenest is one of the newest

technologies used in some of the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) around the world. Lifenest

is a mattress designed especially for premature babies with disabilities such as malformations in

their body or head, it helps improve sleep cycles and head and body shape development. The

mattress has an oval shaped pot in the center, this helps to reduce the pressure in the baby's body.

The pressure in the baby's body can generate several diseases including head flattening

(plagiocephaly) and pressure sores. Thanks to this useful advance in technology, the neonatal

nurses are surer that the babies are sleeping well as their body is developing in the most healthy

way, families can be secure that their babies will be healthier sooner.

“The average gestation period for a human being is forty weeks. However, nearly 30,000

infants enter the world after only twenty-six weeks” (Erika Engelhaupt). The anguish of the

relatives of the premature baby and the risk that the baby dies due to lack of the correct medical

equipment is so big. During the 21st century, a tool has been invented that is very important for
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the care of premature babies, thus facilitating the work of the neonatal nurses. An artificial womb

is a hypothetical device that allows the baby born prematurely to grow and finish developing

completely outside the belly of his mother. The artificial womb is a very important tool for the

good development of a premature baby since it will give him many opportunities to live and be a

healthy child. “Although this device is only used for more developed babies, experts are working

to be able to use them in much more premature babies” (According to research from Tohoku

University, August 17, 2017).

Technology has changed and advanced rapidly in recent years and with them humanity

has benefited greatly. Today, the mortality rate of premature babies is not compared with the rate

of premature baby mortality of the 20th century. "Together, these new technologies are helping

us reduce the babies’ stay in the NICU and sending them home to their families, where they

belong" (Charles Simmons). Progress in technology has greatly benefited parents of families

who are in this situation, their children are born prematurely Thanks to the new advances in

technology used in the NICU, premature babies can have a healthier life and can develop better.

said earlier in this paper, are examples of medical tools very important in the field of health of

babies who did not fulfill their time in the womb of his mother and that is at risk his life.

neonatal nurses are more equipped and have a safer and easier work thanks to advances in

technology, because thanks to that, they can provide the best care and treatment to babies who

are at risk of dying or having diseases. Technology is very important in our lives, but it is more

important when it comes to using it to save more lives. Neonatal nursing is one of the most

important careers since they are responsible for taking care of the life of a human being,

technology is the most important and reliable tool for neonatal nurses.
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Works Cited

“5 Advances in NICU Equipment and Medical Technology for Neonatal Nurses.” ​Regis
College Online​, Regis College, 5 Apr. 2018,
http://online.regiscollege.edu/blog/5-advances-nicu-equipment-medical-technology-neon
atal-nurses/

Cappon, Colleen. “New Technology Cutting Hospital Time for Premature Babies.” ​Fox
News​, FOX News Network, 31 Jan. 2015,
www.foxnews.com/health/2015/01/31/new-technology-cutting-hospital-time-for-prematu
re-babies.html

“Care for the Premature Baby.” ​American Pregnancy Association​, 12 Apr. 2017,
http://americanpregnancy.org/labor-and-birth/premature-care/

Leibler, Soshea. “New Technology Helping Our Smallest Infants Progress Faster in the Neonatal
Intensive Care Unit.” ​A Non-Profit Hospital in Los Angeles​, 6 Jan. 2016,
www.cedars-sinai.edu/About-Us/News/News-Releases-2015/New-Technology-Helping-
Our-Smallest-Infants-Progress-Faster-in-the-Neonatal-Intensive-Care-Unit.aspx.

“The Pea Pod and LifeNest: New Technologies in the NICU.” ​Morning Sign Out​, 31 Mar.
2017, ​http://morningsignout.com/the-pea-pod-and-lifenest-new-technologies-in-the-nicu/

Tohoku University. "Artificial womb raises hope for premature babies." ScienceDaily.
ScienceDaily, 17 August 2017.
<​www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170817141714.htm​>