Neterpljachki – purchasing of the pulse oximeter. Stage 2

In the last years there's been a stable growth of the number of premature births. It is well known that all children are fragile, especially the premature born ones, whereas the problem of preterm births is still one of the problems, underestimated by the society. The lungs of children who weighed less than a thousand grams at birth are not fully open at the first breath and the heart cannot beat stable!

The premature born child lives, grows and develops under the control of the pulse oximeter, because it requires the constant monitoring of pulse and breathing. The goal of this project is the purchase of this special device for the intensive care unit for newborns of the Perinatal center of Kyiv.

Department of anaesthesiology and the intensive therapy of the newborns has twelve beds, while there can be up to 16-18 babies and there can be a lack of medical equipment. Having enough of pulseoximeters, doctors will be able to take care of more children – then the number of disabilities of the premature born children will decrease and the quality of their lives in the future will improve.

Pulse oximeter is a medical control and diagnostic tool for non-invasive measurement of oxygen saturation level of capillary blood.

A pulse oximeter has a sensor that is attached to the child and it monitors the percentage the blood is saturated with oxygen. The doctor or nurse having such data may adjust the percentage of oxygen that is supplied to the child depending on the individual needs of each child.

Another very important thing is that preterm infants often suffer the delay of breathing (apnea). These may be physiological or pathological as a result of immaturity.

This condition can lead to death and with the help of the pulse oximeter the delay in breath can be recognized immediately and doctors can take the necessary measures so that the child starts to breathe again. In addition the pulse oximeter shows the heart rate of the child which is essential in nursing premature babies. After all immature children often have arrhythmias – disruptions of the heart, which are very difficult to diagnose without monitoring. Thus it is impossible to nurse a premature baby without monitoring extremely important indicators, such as blood oxygen situation and heart rate. The duration of pulse oximetry depends on the maturity of the child and the nature of his illness.

There are also many pathologies, during which there is a chronic lack of oxygen in the blood – hypoxy. In this case blood oxygen saturation rate requires constant monitoring. For the monitoring and maintenance of vital functions of the body - breathing and heart beat of small patients, there is a specific medical device – a pulse oximeter.