Advances in neonatal care : official journal of the National Association of Neonatal Nurses
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Infants with chronic lung disease tend to be difficult to care for due to the heterogeneous nature of both their disease and the treatments required. Multiple types of medications, treatments, and nursing interventions are often needed to attain clinical success, and it is frequently difficult to discern which are effective versus the ones that offer no benefit. This article presents a case study that chronicles the care of an infant with chronic lung disease treated with albuterol. An innovative form of ventilation with monitoring of the electrical activity of the diaphragm with a special sensor-embedded catheter is used to assess the effectiveness of albuterol administration. ⋯ This method of clinical monitoring could provide a means to assess clinical utility of respiratory medications, treatments, and nursing interventions in certain populations of neonates and infants. The impact of objective monitoring on required sedation, weight gain, ventilator days, length of hospitalization, and overall hospital costs are other possible areas for future research.
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Increasingly, evidence supports oral feeding of very low birth-weight (VLBW) preterm infants exclusively at breast or with breast milk. Despite known breast milk benefits, outcomes related to exclusive breast milk provision are poor. Identifying factors that promote breast milk provision is critical. ⋯ Significant associations were found between first oral feeding at breast and infant receiving any breast milk at discharge. Targeting VLBW infants to receive first oral feeding at breast may yield the best outcome even among sickest and smallest infants.