Services Allied to Medicine (S.A.M)

Radiographers / Ultrasonographers

The BWH has a large, modern radiography department covering all sections of the hospital. Radiographers from this department provide a service to the NNU for chest and abdominal x-rays and for confirmation of certain venous/arterial lines and catheter placement. A dedicated GE Medical Systems-amx4 plus x-0ray machine is provided by the NNU.

An on-call rota is operated during out-of-hours and weekends for emergency x-rays. The radiography department provides an ultrasonography service to all infants in the breech presentation. Follow-up appointments or referral to the Birmingham Children's Hospital are made for specific grades of dislocated/dislocatable hips.

Renal ultrasounds are also undertaken, particularly on infants diagnosed antenatally to have renal anomalies.

Cranial ultrasonography is indicated on the NNU for all infants as follows:

• 1500g birth weight or below the 3rd centile for gestational age.
• 32 weeks gestational age
• Infants requiring IPPV
• Infants with birth asphyxia as identified by the neonatologists.
• Infants transferred from another NNU with any of the above.
• Infants with any significant antenatal findings.

This service is provided by a senior radiographer/ultrasonographer specifically employed on the NNU to investigate and monitor these infants.

Audiologist

An audiologist screening service is provided, on a sessional basis, by an audiologist from the BCH. All infants on the NNU and infants in the hospital meeting the screening criteria, as designated in the neonatal standards and practices guidelines, receive the OAE test and are referred to BCH for the follow up if the result is abnormal.

Opthalmologist

Screening is undertaken to diagnose and monitor for retinopathy of prematurity. All infants of <1500g-birth weight or <31 weeks gestation at birth are closely monitored from the ages of three weeks.

Physiotherapy

A respiratory and a developmental care physiotherapist from BCH are employed on a sessional basis. Their time on the unit is spent observing, evaluating and advising the nursing staff. Suctioning and physiotherapy of the ventilated and oxygen dependent infant is discussed and various modalities of treatment used. Positioning and support of the pre term infant is taught. This assists in the development of their spatial awareness and future posture.

Medical Physics

A consultant physicist manages the medical physics department of the hospital. A senior Bioengineer directly supervises the medical physics technician on the NNU. This technician is responsible for the day-to-day servicing and repair of equipment such as incubators, monitors, infusions pumps etc used on the NNU. He also liaises with reps of medical equipment supply companies to update/upgrade current equipment and also to establish an intelligence base of new equipment that the unit may be interested in using.

Infection Control and Microbiology

A consultant microbiologist works closely with the NNU. Any abnormal or unusual results are referred to him and he liaises with the NNU team to investigate and formulate appropriate treatment regimens. An infection control nurse based at BCH works closely with the NNU and acts as a valuable resource when dealing with outbreaks of infection and also as a source of information in all matters concerning control of infection.

Cardiology

As the tertiary referral centre for the West Midlands many mothers are referred to this hospital to deliver infants with know cardiac anomalies. We therefore maintain close links with cardiologists based at the BCH who normally examine these infants on the NNU to confirm their diagnoses prior to transfer to BCH for surgery or further treatment and observation.

Surgical

In common with our close links with the cardiology department of the BCH we also have a system of referral for infants requiring surgical intervention for other birth anomalies such as diaphragmatic hernia or gastroschisis Any of our infants requiring surgery for NEC or hernias are referred to these surgeons who will often visit the NNU to assess the situation prior to transfer for surgery at BCH.

This page was last modified on Fri May 07 2010