Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Lung ; Lung Diseases ; diagnostic imaging ; Ultrasonography

Newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are highly vulnerable in disasters due to their need for specialized and highly technical support. It is strongly encouraged to prepare for the most likely disaster scenarios for the NICU. During a disaster, neonatal care providers should maintain situational awareness for decision-making, including available equipment, medication, and staffing. Neonatal care providers also should consider the ethical issues and the psychosocial needs of the families and neonatal care staff.
Decision Making ; Disaster Planning ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Intensive Care Units, Neonatal

Neonates are vulnerable to greater damage in disasters and thus have special needs for equipment and medical staff. It is necessary to establish a regional neonatal transport network, in order to provide a platform for effective information communication and resource sharing. Neonatal care centers for critically ill neonates at all levels need to develop a disaster response plan for neonatal transport, and master this plan. In case of disasters, neonatal transport should be directed at the government level, in order to arrange emergency transport resources in a unified, reasonable and efficient way. Meanwhile, the psychological needs of family members and rescue staff should be taken into account.
Critical Illness ; Disaster Planning ; Emergency Medical Services ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn

Objective Bilirubin encephalopathy continued to be reported worldwide. This multicenter study was conducted to explore the clinical characteristics,comorbidities and prognosis of bilirubin encephalopathy in China.Methods The survey was conducted in 33 level Ⅲ hospitals.Clinical charts of infants with diagnosis of bilirubin encephalopathy or kernicterus at discharge were reviewed.The data were collected by a detaild questionnaire and analyzed.Results From January to December in 2009,348 cases of bilirubin encephalopathy were reported from 28 hospitals.The mean birth weight was (3112.4± 599.6 ) grams,mean gestational age was ( 38.3 ± 2.3 ) weeks; 291 ( 83.6％ ) cases were term infants,40 ( 11.5％ ) cases were late-preterm infants,and 11 ( 3.2％ ) cases were early preterm infants.After admission,the highest bilirubin level was (478.1 ± 175.8) μmol/L Of all the 348 cases,the age at admission was (7.3 ±5.4) days; 247 (71.0％) cases were admitted before 7 days of age,24 (6.9％) cases were admitted after 14 days of age. Most of the cases (86.2％) were complicated with other conditions,including bacterial infection (52.6％ ),ABO incompatibility (29.9％),and perinatal asphyxia (10.1％ ). A total of 131 infants (37.6％) underwent an exchange transfusion. Use of albumin,intravenous immunoglobulin was also common (68.7％ and 44.0％ respectively).A total of 52 cases were of minority ethnic groups,with significantly higher rate of G6PD deficiency than Han ethnicity cases.During the hospitalization and follow up,36 infants died,and 125 infants ( 35.9％ ) were lost to follow up.Conclusions Bilirubin encephalopathy is still not rare in China,the establishment of a population-based reporting system and prevention of kernicterus remain a high priority among public health institutions.