Coming out of the 2018 Perinatal Data Review Conference, which took place at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital recently, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) would have expressed the need to have more equipment. Within the recent week, much to the delight of Dr. Angela Jennings, Head of the Paediatrics Department, the NICU would have received updated and much-needed pieces of equipment.
Speaking with The Barbados Advocate following their most recent handing-over ceremony, where the department was able to receive a GE B-20, Dr. Jennings highlighted that these recent donations were definitely needed, and she could not be more grateful.
“Out of the Perinatal Conference, we would have highlighted what our deficiencies were in terms of the need for equipment. As years go by, you have equipment that you obviously need to replace and replenish because everything has a lifespan; and you also have deficiencies in terms of making sure that you have the appropriate number of machinery to deal with for the patients that you have,” she said.
She explained that as the department became more advanced in the care that they provided, the patients they are seeing become more complex, which means that the equipment that they have, have to support that and be able to provide the necessary information.
“So, we are glad that we got the donation that we got on Tuesday as well, as it pretty much just marries the advancement that we’re hoping to achieve,” she said.
Jennings explained that the equipment they received was a more advanced monitor that was able to track the baby’s heart rate, its oxygen saturation and its level of carbon dioxide, which is gas that the baby will produce as he/she is breathing out.
“So it allows us to monitor that without having to do more invasive investigations. So we wouldn’t have to take blood tests from the baby to find out this information as we can obtain it via this monitor. So this is a very important progression as far as this is concerned,” she said.
“It also has two other modalities. It has the CO2 and the blood pressure. So without having to put on the blood pressure cuff, we can get minute by minute blood pressure readings on the baby so that we can identify changes that occur more readily.”