CPAP in newborns.

Before further ado, I'll go ahead and let you guys know that CPAP means Continuous Positive Airway Pressure.

First time I heard about it was regarding Sleep Apnea, that article expressed that CPAP was a valuable treatment for it, along with weight loss and other adjustments of course. Well, after a while of that and without hearing the word CPAP again, it was brought up today in our Pediatrics and Childcare class. 

It caught my attention cause our teacher mentioned that the childcare unit of our regional public hospital was going to received some of these devices. She was so excited while mentioning it and I just couldn't get it, I thought she was all "we're going to receive something new! Wee!" but after reading about the use and advantages of the CPAP in newborns that are either pre-term or just with breathing issues, I finally got her, most of all the potential advantages it has in developing countries like ours. This article explains how the use of CPAP for primary management of RDS (Respiratory Distress Syndrome) allows patients to save money  by not starting treatment with SRT (Surfactant Replacement Therapy) and instead using it in non-responders to CPAP 

Might sound unimportant to some people or just something already known and re-known for that matter, well yes, I'm not going to argue with that, it's not a new therapy so private clinics already have them. Usually money it's not an issue for those who attend to private clinics, they can pay for their services or they have a pretty good insurance but the reality of the poor part of society is completely different. Let me be breve and let you know about what public hospital means in "my language", it's a place/building the government has enabled with beds, some basic equipment (X-ray machine, EKG machine and others), doctors, nurses, residents, interns and med students.. everything else comes from your pocket, with that I mean "even the gauze" comes on your account. So, imagine that it must not be easy to have a newborn in NICU and be told what you need to do to keep your child alive but in the end you know you just don't have the means... 

360· and back to the essence of the subject, here are two pictures, one is a nasal-CPAP and the other is a helmet-CPAP, even if both of them do "the same" work, some authors have their preferences and the why's of it.   But I'm not planning to get into that,  here's and article that refers about it, there's more from where it came from =P, so I invite you to inform yourself a little about it. 

Good Night!