Newborn Hearing and Cardiovascular Screening (Nursing)

00:01 Now let's talk about a couple of newborn screens that are done before the baby goes home.

00:07 The reason why these screens are done is because if we can identify certain neurologic, certain metabolic, cardiac and hearing issues before the baby goes home, we can intervene and have a greater effect on the baby's life.

00:21 So these are very important screens that are done, and most of them are mandated by law to be done before the baby's discharged from a hospital or birthing center.

00:31 The first screen we'll talk about is the newborn screen.

00:34 And this is a heel stick that's done when the baby is at least 24 hours of age.

00:38 Now much of this newborn screen tests for abnormalities of metabolism.

00:43 So the baby has to actually have something to eat in order for us to get accurate results.

00:48 However, if the baby's discharged early for some reason, we will still go ahead and get the newborn screen because some information is better than none.

00:56 So this is a heel stick that's done after 24 hours, and it's going to check for those metabolic disorders.

01:02 You'll see an example of what the card looks like these five red circles that are collected.

01:06 It's important that when the heel stick is done, that the blood is drawn from the lateral outer aspect of the heel.

01:12 So not right in the center, because that can cause damage to the foot.

01:18 This newborn screen assesses for inborn errors of metabolism.

01:23 It assess for PKU, it assess for hypothyroidism, for galactosemia, for sickle cell, and a host of other things that are constantly changing.

01:34 So it's a really good and interesting thing to do to go to the nursery and actually look at the lab results to see what the newborn screen actually does pick up.

01:43 The next screening test is a hearing screen.

01:46 And this again, is mandated by most states to be done before discharge.

01:50 And the reason why is because if we don't do a hearing screen, we may not notice that the baby has issues with hearing until the baby is a year or two years old.

02:00 And we have a lot of missed opportunities for babies to hear voices, for them to hear sounds, and that affects their development.

02:07 If we know they have hearing issues, we can intervene early and lessen those effects.

02:12 So for the hearing screen, both the left and the right ears are tested simultaneously.

02:17 And the results are known at the end of the test.

02:20 So this is done by electric stimuli.

02:22 Obviously, we're not going to say to the baby, "Can you hear that sound?" The way we would do for an adult.

02:27 So this is not something that they have to participate in.

02:30 The next screen is a cardiovascular screen.

02:32 So it has a big fancy name.

02:35 But really the only thing this cardiovascular screen is is a pulse ox test.

02:39 So we'll place a pulse ox either on the right hand or the right foot and will watch for lower levels of oxygen saturation.

02:47 Low levels of oxygen saturation will indicate that there is a potential cardiac anomaly.

02:52 So this is a new test that is done prior to discharge.