We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Hypothermia in the newborn: An exploration of its cause, effect and prevention.
- Authors
Vilinsky, Aliona; Sheridan, Ann
- Abstract
According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 1997) a newborn is normothermic when its body temperature is between 36.5°C and 37.5°C with hypothermia considered to be any temperature below this identified spectrum. Neonatal hypothermia is a potentially common and dangerous occurrence related to a number of risk factors categorised as environmental, physiological, behavioural and socioeconomic. Babies delivered by caesarean section are at particular risk of developing hypothermia. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the factors contributing to neonatal hypothermia including the physiology of thermoregulation, mechanisms of thermogenesis and heat loss, and the effects that neonatal hypothermia has on the newborn infant. The paper will also review the interventions, which may be adopted to prevent hypothermia occurring and to identify and intervene to reduce the impact of hypothermia including the effect of skin-to-skin contact as both a preventative and management strategy in neonatal hypothermia.
- Subjects
HYPOTHERMIA -- Risk factors; BODY temperature regulation; HYPOTHERMIA; POSTNATAL care; DISEASE complications; CHILDREN; PREVENTION
- Publication
British Journal of Midwifery, 2014, Vol 22, Issue 8, p557
- ISSN
0969-4900
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.12968/bjom.2014.22.8.557