Introduction – Transition
There are three key notions to consider when caring for infants in the Special Care Nursery; are they warm, are they sweet, and are they pink. These three key concepts are underpinned by developmentally supportive and family centred care strategies (are they calm?) as discussed in the previous chapter.
This chapter looks at the transition and adaptation of the infant to extra uterine life – life beyond the womb.
Learning Objectives
- Understanding fetal circulation, and the transition processes to postnatal life
- Identify factors that predispose infants to poor postnatal adaptations
- Understanding when the impacts of hypothermia, hypoxia, hypoglycaemia, hypotension and hypercarbia on postnatal transition.
- Understand conditions that may impair neonatal transition, including perinatal asphyxia, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), and both duct-dependent and non-duct-dependent congenital heart defects (CHDs).
- Identify the impacts of being born premature and or small for gestational age has on an infant
- Management in aiding successful transition
There are four sections to this chapter:
- Overview of fetal circulation
- Impediments to transition
- Prematurity and deviations from fetal growth
- Practices to prevent the 5 H’s
Baby lying on bed by Visualss used under Unsplash licence
