[Family presence during cardiopulmonary resuscitation in children]. / La presenza dei familiari durante la rianimazione cardiopolmonare del bambino in ambito ospedaliero.

UNLABELLED: Witnessing a cardiopulmonary resuscitation is a dramatic event for health care workers and for the relatives of those involved, especially for parents and relatives of children. METHOD: A literature review was performed on MedLine, PubMed, Ebsco, with the following keywords: Family presence, Relatives, Parents presence, Pediatric Resuscitation, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), Pediatric intensive care unit, to explore if parents should be allowed to witness or not and their need of support. RESULTS: Most paediatric guidelines favour the presence of relatives during CPR and the results of surveys are consistent in reporting that parents prefer to see what is happening to their child. The benefits for health care workers include an improvement of the relationship with family members, thus facilitating the flow of information and health education. Years of education and experience, together with specific protocols may help health care workers to accept the presence of relatives during critical events.

[Medication errors. Preventive measures in neonatal intensive care]. / Gli errori di terapia. Interventi di prevenzione in Terapia Intensiva Neonatale.

UNLABELLED: Medications errors are one on the main problems in the National Health Service. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is a very specific area and newborns are highly exposed to the risk of medication errors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A revision of the therapeutic process was started, involving NICU doctors, nurses and the pharmacist, to identify problems and implement adequate solutions. The main high risk areas identified were: prescription of the drug and its transcription on the drug sheet, calculation of drugs dilutions and dosages to be administered, fragmentation of tasks (drugs prepared and administered by different professionals). RESULTS: The analysis of the process allowed different professionals to be aware of the risks and of the importance of standardized behaviours; of the implementation of protocols to prevent possible errors. The implementation of computerized calculation of dosages of drugs to be infused allowed to prevent errors and favoured personalized prescriptions. The introduction of the voluntary complaint forms will hopefully allow to have a clearer picture of the magnitude of the problem together with data on its nature, to identify future appropriate corrective measures.

Comparison of neonatal intensive care: Trento area versus Vermont Oxford Network.

BACKGROUND: S. Chiara hospital is the only neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in the Province of Trento (Italy). It serves a population of about 460000 people with about 5000 infants per year, admitting the totality of the inborn and outborn VLBWI of the province. The aim of this work is to compare mortality, morbidity and neonatal treatment of the very low birth weight infants (VLBWI) of Trento area with those recorded in the Vermont Oxford Network (VON) during 2004. METHODS: In this retrospective analysis, the rates of complications and related treatments reported in VLBWI admitted in the S. Chiara NICU during the period 2000-2005 were compared with those recorded in the VON in 2004. The analysis included both the total populations and different weight groups. RESULTS: The frequency of inborn infants was significantly higher in Trento than in VON: 91% vs 84% (MH 8.56; p-value 0.003). The administration of prenatal steroids (82% vs 74%; MH 7.47 and p-value 0.006) and caesarean section were significantly more frequent in the Trento area than in VON. In Trento significantly more VLBWI with BW