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Care of the Patient’s Skin
Important clinical information – please read carefully before using this device.
The skin has a number of roles. It provides a protective barrier against chemical, mechanical, and
biological injuries. It helps maintain body temperature. It also serves as a route for water excretion,
especially in premature infants.
The introduction of new intensive care techniques has increased survival of very small, premature
infants. Very low weight infants do not have fully developed skin. Combined with more
instrumentation and handling, this poses previously unrecognized problems for the nursing care of
these infants.
1
Please read, evaluate and implement the following recommendations as appropriate:
1. Please refer to the following standard of skin care recommendations as given in the
literature
2
when utilizing this device. Special attention should be given to sanitation and
skin integrity.
Observe color, rashes, excoriation.
Clean skin with warm water.
Clean perineal area after stooling.
Change infant’s position every 2 hours.
2. This device is intended only for the treatment of existing hyperbilirubinemia. Use of this
device as preventative treatment is not recommended. Premature infants have
extremely fragile skin
3
and various clinical studies have produced different conclusions
concerning the effectiveness of preventative treatment.
4, 5
1
NAACOG (1992), OGN Nursing Practice Resource, Neonatal Skin Care, NAACOG.
2
ibid
3
Rutter, N., The immature skin,
British Medical Bulletin
, Vol. 44, No. 4, 1988
4
Curtis-Cohen, M., et al, Randomized trial of prophylactic phototherapy in the infant with very low birth weight,
The Journal of Pediatrics
, July, 1985
5
Brown, A., et al, Efficacy of Phototherapy in Prevention and Management of Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia,
Pediatrics
, February, 1988
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