Researchers in British Columbia have designed a B次元官网网址渞obotB次元官网网址� that helps reduce pain for premature babies by simulating skin-to-skin contact with a parent who may not be available during around-the-clock procedures in a neonatal intensive care unit.
Lead inventor and occupational therapist Liisa Holsti said the Calmer device is a rectangular platform that replaces a mattress inside an incubator and is programmed with information on a parentB次元官网网址檚 heartbeat and breathing motion.
The robotic part of Calmer is that the platform rises up and down to mimic breathing, and a heartbeat sound is audible through a microphone outside the device, said Holsti, adding a pad on top resembles a skin-like surface.
The aim is to help babies cope with pain through touch instead of medication as much as possible while theyB次元官网网址檙e exposed to multiple procedures, such as the drawing of blood, which can be done multiple times a day over several months.
A randomized clinical trial involving 49 infants born prematurely between 27 and 36 weeks of pregnancy at BC WomenB次元官网网址檚 Hospital and Health Centre concluded Calmer provides similar benefits to human touch in reducing pain when the babies had their blood drawn.
The findings of the study, completed between October 2014 and February 2018, were published this week in the journal Pain Reports.
A parentB次元官网网址檚 or caregiverB次元官网网址檚 touch is the most healing and the Calmer isnB次元官网网址檛 intended to replace that, said Holsti, the Canada research chair in neonatal health and development. She worked with four other researchers on the project that involved a prototype built by engineering students at the British Columbia Institute of Technology.
B次元官网网址淲e purposely did not design it to look anything like a human being,B次元官网网址� she said, adding her work since 1985 in neonatal intensive care units, where she taught parents how to support their babies at home after leaving the hospital, sparked an interest in assessing infant pain and trying to relieve it.
B次元官网网址淲e have about 30,000 babies born prematurely in Canada alone every year so my hope would be that we would be helping all of those babies with Calmer.B次元官网网址�
Holsti said nurses often provide so-called hand hugging by placing their hands around an infantB次元官网网址檚 head, arms and legs in a curled position during blood collection, but the study suggests the device would save almost half a million dollars in staffing costs every year at just the neonatal intensive care unit where the study was done.
Lauren Mathany, whose twin daughters Hazel and Isla were born 24 weeks into her pregnancy last April and weighed less than two pounds each, said that while the Calmer research had been completed by then, it would have been a reassuring tool for her and her spouse when they went home to sleep or take a shower after doing plenty of hang hugging and skin-to-skin touching.
B次元官网网址淭he NICU is the most difficult place to be. It challenges you in every single way,B次元官网网址� she said.
MethanyB次元官网网址檚 children spent over four months at the hospital and were medically fragile when they were bought home but are now thriving at almost a year old.
Dr. Ran Goldman, who has been a pain researcher at the BC ChildrenB次元官网网址檚 Hospital Research Institute for 20 years but wasnB次元官网网址檛 involved with the Calmer study, said the device shows promise because thereB次元官网网址檚 a greater understanding that healing is delayed when pain is part of an infantB次元官网网址檚 treatment.
Scientists in the late 1960s believed babies didnB次元官网网址檛 feel pain but thereB次元官网网址檚 now an increasing understanding that theyB次元官网网址檙e more sensitive to it than older children or adults because their pain-inhibiting mechanisms havenB次元官网网址檛 fully developed, said Goldman, who is also an emergency room physician at BC ChildrenB次元官网网址檚 Hospital.
B次元官网网址淩esearch has shown that babies who suffered pain as neonates do keep this memory later on and respond differently when they get pain experiences later in life,B次元官网网址� he said.
Camille Bains, The Canadian Press
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