Archive for nicu
Bedside tech predicts newborns’ outcomes after therapeutic hypothermia
Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), brain injury caused by oxygen deprivation around birth, is a common cause of admission to the neonatal intensive care unit. Therapeutic hypothermia is now becoming the standard treatment to minimize brain injury; cooling the newborn’s head or whole body for three days slows cellular metabolism and allows brain cells to avoid and ... Read More
How Robin sequence paved a dad’s road to the Boston Marathon: Chad and Izzy’s story
Go to any marathon starting line and you’re bound to find someone who was “never a runner” until something — or someone — motivated them to tie up their laces. Chad Goyette is one such runner. But today, he’s fresh off the Atlanta Marathon and gearing up to run Boston. His inspiration? His daughter, Izzy. ... Read More
I’ve been there, too: What my baby’s tumor taught me as a NICU nurse
I had a toddler at home when I found out I was pregnant with my twins, Hannah and Sophie. Since I had already had a baby, I thought I knew what to expect during my pregnancy. I also work in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Boston Children’s Hospital, so I thought I was ... Read More
Optimizing care for bronchopulmonary dysplasia, infant by infant
Preterm newborns with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) can require ongoing mechanical ventilation to support their lungs. But babies with BPD aren’t just newborns with underdeveloped lungs. Each has a unique presentation. And every part of their care is important, with the ultimate goal of enabling them to grow, develop, and go home to their families. The ... Read More
Bringing Xavien home: One family’s journey with bronchopulmonary dysplasia
Xavien Velazquez is getting ready to celebrate his first birthday. It’s a milestone for every child but especially meaningful for this little boy who has spent more than half his life away from home receiving care for bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a chronic lung disease characterized by respiratory distress that is most often seen in newborns ... Read More
A legend for Zora: How genomic testing provides answers in the face of grief
So often after a perinatal loss, parents are left with uncertainty about what caused their baby’s death and the haunting question, “what if.” To help grieving families find answers to these questions, Dr. Monica Wojcik and her colleagues in the Division of Newborn Medicine are conducting genomic autopsies to learn if and what genetic factors ... Read More
The CAMEO tool: Capturing the complex nature of pediatric nursing
By any measure, nursing is a complex profession. On any given day, nurses must draw on a wide range of cognitive skills and clinical tools to care for their patients, and by extension, their patients’ families. As patients become increasingly complex, so do the specific proficiencies necessary to complete their jobs. Measuring the cognitive complexity ... Read More
Care in the NICU during the COVID-19 outbreak
Having a baby requiring specialized care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is stressful under any circumstances. But if your baby is being cared for in the NICU during the current COVID-19 outbreak, you may have even more questions and concerns than usual. To address these worries, we spoke with Dr. Kristen Leeman, associate ... Read More