In the United States at the beginning of the 1900s, for “every 1000 live births” about 100 infants passed away before they turned one (“Achievements in Public Health, 1900-1999: Healthier Mothers and Babies.”). While most of these deaths were from disease and a lack of proper health care, medical intervention could kill a child as soon as save one. Quality medical care for infants was not always a priority, and many practices that were once accepted are now quite illegal. The history of neonatal nursing is fraught with ethical challenges and advancements that have ultimately shaped it into what it is today. Modern day neonatal nursing is extremely different from its’ beginnings, and even from what it was twenty years ago. The primary patients
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“The neonatal period is defined as the first month of life” (“What Is Neonatal Nursing.”). Some nurses in the ward care for children up to two years of age, and most care for the infant from their birth to discharge from the hospital. Compared to fifteen years ago, the rates of survival for infants admitted to the NICU are ten times better due to medical advancements (“What Is Neonatal Nursing.”). Infants as young as twenty-three weeks gestation can survive with minimal health problems due to the exception care they recieve while in the NICU.
Unfortunately, sick and premature infants were not always cared for with the precision of modern times. In the 1800s and even early 1900s, it was not uncommon for a sick newborn to die shortly after birth. No infants born at twenty-three weeks would ever survive in those times. Until 1880, the medical field had no ways to effectively treat these infants. The most that could be done was to educate mothers about hygiene, nutrition, and the dangers of contaminated cow’s milk to newborn infants, as French obstetrician Pierre-Constant Budin did. In 1880, the first infant incubator was invented by another French obstetrician, …show more content…
During the early 1900s, a few American hospitals opened premier versions of the neonatal unit, called ‘premature infant stations’, in an attempt to give premature infants better care. Unfortunately, the mortality rate for all infants was high, so premature babies got no special recognition as a problem by society. The lack of public interest and funding caused these stations to close shortly after their creation. When the mortality rate of full term infants finally decreased, premature infants were then put in the spotlight as a problem. Between 1920 and 1940, care of sick infants was once again transferred from home to hospital. Public interest in prematurity increased, and with it, the demand for better care (Reedy). At this time, a premature infant born at twenty-four weeks gestation would still have a very small chance of living, unlike modern times. Parents of premature infants born much closer to full term would often be assured by doctors that the infants would be able to lead completely normal lives after their recovery. Any physical or mental side effects of prematurity began to emerge in the fifties, after new medicine could save younger and smaller preemies (Reedy). Some of the new ‘treatments’ created to save premature infants was found to cause some adverse side effects although they did save many lives. The use of oxygen was
“The neonatal period is defined as the first month of life” (“What Is Neonatal Nursing.”). Some nurses in the ward care for children up to two years of age, and most care for the infant from their birth to discharge from the hospital. Compared to fifteen years ago, the rates of survival for infants admitted to the NICU are ten times better due to medical advancements (“What Is Neonatal Nursing.”). Infants as young as twenty-three weeks gestation can survive with minimal health problems due to the exception care they recieve while in the NICU.
Unfortunately, sick and premature infants were not always cared for with the precision of modern times. In the 1800s and even early 1900s, it was not uncommon for a sick newborn to die shortly after birth. No infants born at twenty-three weeks would ever survive in those times. Until 1880, the medical field had no ways to effectively treat these infants. The most that could be done was to educate mothers about hygiene, nutrition, and the dangers of contaminated cow’s milk to newborn infants, as French obstetrician Pierre-Constant Budin did. In 1880, the first infant incubator was invented by another French obstetrician, …show more content…
During the early 1900s, a few American hospitals opened premier versions of the neonatal unit, called ‘premature infant stations’, in an attempt to give premature infants better care. Unfortunately, the mortality rate for all infants was high, so premature babies got no special recognition as a problem by society. The lack of public interest and funding caused these stations to close shortly after their creation. When the mortality rate of full term infants finally decreased, premature infants were then put in the spotlight as a problem. Between 1920 and 1940, care of sick infants was once again transferred from home to hospital. Public interest in prematurity increased, and with it, the demand for better care (Reedy). At this time, a premature infant born at twenty-four weeks gestation would still have a very small chance of living, unlike modern times. Parents of premature infants born much closer to full term would often be assured by doctors that the infants would be able to lead completely normal lives after their recovery. Any physical or mental side effects of prematurity began to emerge in the fifties, after new medicine could save younger and smaller preemies (Reedy). Some of the new ‘treatments’ created to save premature infants was found to cause some adverse side effects although they did save many lives. The use of oxygen was