Hi Karen! Very interesting topic. I have never really thought about skin breakdown with infants honestly. I am sure tho, that it is a big problem. Especially in the NICU where these babies are just laying there for months at a time. I have a friend who’s newborn was diagnosed with Hirschsprung’s Disease on his second day of life. He was in the hospital for months. Finally came home with 2 stoma’s. He is 6 months old and they are now talking about reversing his ostomy. He is one that is definitely at risk for skin breakdown considering he already his skin is already impaired. Thanks for sharing this article!
Thank you Crystal for reading my topic. I am glad your friends baby was able to come home healthy from a long NICU stay. Skin injuries are quite common in NICU units. The epidermal maturation is complete at 34 weeks gestation. Also the babies in the NICU are at increased risk due to intrinsic and extrinsic factors related to their conditions. This additional article I read evaluated skin risk tools that predict risk of skin breakdown in the neonatal unit. I myself have seen so many skin injuries that the list would be too long to list. It is quite amazing how far technology has come to see some of the advanced tools that reduce skin breakdown in neonates.
Broom, M., Dunk,A. & Mohamed, A. (2019). Predicting Neonatal Skin Injury: The First step to reduce skin injuries in neonates. Health Service Insights 12, 1-10
Great topic to discuss and educate about. As we all know skin is one of the large organs we have and it is also our first line of protection from infection. This became a good understanding after reading this article about using Mupirocin in the NICU to help prevent MRSA and MSSA.
“Staphylococcus aureus (SA) is the second leading cause of late-onset sepsis among infants in the NICU” (Katoloff, 2019). After reading this article I have a new appreciation for infants and skin care and prevention. In this study they treated infants who nasal swab was positive for MRSA or MSSA and treated with Mupirocin. “Mupirocin was safe and highly efficacious in inducing primary SA decolonization in the NICU, an effect that is expected to translate to the prevention of clinical infection during the 2- to 3-week period after colonization, at which time most SA infections seem to occur” Kotloff, 2019). But they observed recolonization even after treatment. So the transmission of MRSA or MSSA were still there even after treating. Sepsis can be an end of a babies fight in the NICU early detection and prevention necessary. Starting with skin breakdown prevention is the place to start.
Kotloff, K. L., Shirley, D.-A. T., Creech, C. B., Frey, S. E., Harrison, C. J., Staat, M., Anderson, E. J., Dulkerian, S., Thomsen, I. P., Al-Hosni, M., Pahud, B. A., Bernstein, D. I., Jumi Yi, Petrikin, J. E., Haberman, B., & Stephens, K. (2019). Mupirocin for Staphylococcus aureus Decolonization of Infants in Neonatal Intensive Care Units. Pediatrics, 143(1), 1–11. https://doi-org.ezproxy.fhsu.edu/10.1542/peds.2018-1565
Whitney, what an interesting article. Thank you for sharing. Skin is important to keep healthy in neonates. It seems to me that skin breakdown progresses quite quickly and then takes an extended time to heal in infants. Neonates are at increased risk of impaired skin integrity which leads to systemic infections as you mentioned in your article. The key to improving skin integrity is in prevention measures based on skin physiology. A study I viewed, completed 248 assessments and of those 38% had skin injuries. Preserving skin integrity in neonates starts with utilizing an effective skin risk tool.
Broom, M.,Dunk,A.,Abdel-Latif, M. (2019). Predicting Neonatal Skin Injury: The first step to reducing skin injuries in neonates.Health Service Insights. https://doi.org/10.1177/1178632919845630
Hi Karen! Very interesting topic. I have never really thought about skin breakdown with infants honestly. I am sure tho, that it is a big problem. Especially in the NICU where these babies are just laying there for months at a time. I have a friend who’s newborn was diagnosed with Hirschsprung’s Disease on his second day of life. He was in the hospital for months. Finally came home with 2 stoma’s. He is 6 months old and they are now talking about reversing his ostomy. He is one that is definitely at risk for skin breakdown considering he already his skin is already impaired. Thanks for sharing this article!
Thank you Crystal for reading my topic. I am glad your friends baby was able to come home healthy from a long NICU stay. Skin injuries are quite common in NICU units. The epidermal maturation is complete at 34 weeks gestation. Also the babies in the NICU are at increased risk due to intrinsic and extrinsic factors related to their conditions. This additional article I read evaluated skin risk tools that predict risk of skin breakdown in the neonatal unit. I myself have seen so many skin injuries that the list would be too long to list. It is quite amazing how far technology has come to see some of the advanced tools that reduce skin breakdown in neonates.
Broom, M., Dunk,A. & Mohamed, A. (2019). Predicting Neonatal Skin Injury: The First step to reduce skin injuries in neonates. Health Service Insights 12, 1-10
Great topic to discuss and educate about. As we all know skin is one of the large organs we have and it is also our first line of protection from infection. This became a good understanding after reading this article about using Mupirocin in the NICU to help prevent MRSA and MSSA.
“Staphylococcus aureus (SA) is the second leading cause of late-onset sepsis among infants in the NICU” (Katoloff, 2019). After reading this article I have a new appreciation for infants and skin care and prevention. In this study they treated infants who nasal swab was positive for MRSA or MSSA and treated with Mupirocin. “Mupirocin was safe and highly efficacious in inducing primary SA decolonization in the NICU, an effect that is expected to translate to the prevention of clinical infection during the 2- to 3-week period after colonization, at which time most SA infections seem to occur” Kotloff, 2019). But they observed recolonization even after treatment. So the transmission of MRSA or MSSA were still there even after treating. Sepsis can be an end of a babies fight in the NICU early detection and prevention necessary. Starting with skin breakdown prevention is the place to start.
Kotloff, K. L., Shirley, D.-A. T., Creech, C. B., Frey, S. E., Harrison, C. J., Staat, M., Anderson, E. J., Dulkerian, S., Thomsen, I. P., Al-Hosni, M., Pahud, B. A., Bernstein, D. I., Jumi Yi, Petrikin, J. E., Haberman, B., & Stephens, K. (2019). Mupirocin for Staphylococcus aureus Decolonization of Infants in Neonatal Intensive Care Units. Pediatrics, 143(1), 1–11. https://doi-org.ezproxy.fhsu.edu/10.1542/peds.2018-1565
Whitney, what an interesting article. Thank you for sharing. Skin is important to keep healthy in neonates. It seems to me that skin breakdown progresses quite quickly and then takes an extended time to heal in infants. Neonates are at increased risk of impaired skin integrity which leads to systemic infections as you mentioned in your article. The key to improving skin integrity is in prevention measures based on skin physiology. A study I viewed, completed 248 assessments and of those 38% had skin injuries. Preserving skin integrity in neonates starts with utilizing an effective skin risk tool.
Broom, M.,Dunk,A.,Abdel-Latif, M. (2019). Predicting Neonatal Skin Injury: The first step to reducing skin injuries in neonates.Health Service Insights. https://doi.org/10.1177/1178632919845630