This column is part of an ongoing series on selected perinatal and neonatal focused Internet resources and mobile applications (apps) that are useful for clinical practice, teaching, or professional development. The focus for app recommendations is primarily on free or inexpensive apps. The Internet sites covered in this column are Neoknowledge, Neonatal Research, and National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome; the app covered is Prevent Group B Strep App for Obstetric and Neonatal Providers.
Neoknowledge (http://www.neoknowledge.org) is described as "a portal to the best knowledge in neonatology."1 The site was developed by Gautham Suresh, a physician in perinatal and neonatal medicine at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. The site is a portal to many useful resources and provides links to tools, interesting cases, recent articles, educational videos, Cochrane Reviews, neonatal-perinatal organizations, and neonatal conferences. Links to clinical guidelines and published reviews are provided for many neonatal topics, including bilirubin, cardiovascular, endocrine, fluids and electrolytes, gastrointestinal, genetics, glucose, hematology, nutrition, ophthalmology, renal, respiratory, sepsis, skin, and more. Educational video links include those for neonatal intubation (http://www.neoknowledge.org/endotracheal-intubation), umbilical arterial and venous catheter placement (http://www.neoknowledge.org/uvcuac), and needle aspiration of chest (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCQp2je8FZ8&feature=youtu.be). Interested persons can receive notification of new posts via e-mail.
One of the sites linked in Neoknowledge is NICU Tools (http://www.nicutools.org). This site was developed by a New Zealand neonatologist and associates. This site provides a resource for calculators that may be useful in providing neonatal care. These calculators include alveolar-arterial oxygen difference (AaDO2), body surface area, glucose delivery, low flow oxygen FIO2 calculator, partial exchange transfusion calculator, and others.
A neonatal research blog by Keith Barrington, a Canadian neonatologist, can be found at http://neonatalresearch.org. This blog summarizes and comments on selected current neonatal research. Examples of topics for posts in recent months include neonatal drug shortages, long term outcomes, lipid emulsions, ductal shunting, probiotics, gastroesophageal reflux, and controversies over the SUPPORT trial.2 Interested persons can receive notification of new posts via either e-mail or Twitter.
The National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome Web site is found at http://www.dontshake.org. The mission of the center is to "educate and train parents and professionals, and to conduct research that will prevent the shaking and abuse of infants in the United States."3 The site provides information and awareness about shaken baby syndrome with a focus on both professional education and training and prevention education for parents and others as well as summaries of current research and educational materials. Educational programs offered by this organization are summarized including the "Period of Purple Crying" program whose aim is "helping parents and caregivers understand the frustrating features of crying in normal infants that can lead to shaking or abuse."3 The Web site offers a variety of educational materials for sale, including posters, brochures, CDs, DVDs, and educational training materials, for professionals, parents, and schools.
A new app that was recently released is the Prevent Group B Strep App for Obstetric and Neonatal Providers (http://www.cdc.gov/groupbstrep/guidelines/prevention-app.html). "Prevent Group B Strep is a stand-alone application that provides patient-specific and scenario-specific guidance consistent with the 2010 Guidelines for the Prevention of Perinatal GBS. The app generates customized guidelines based on user input of patient characteristics."4,5 Multidisciplinary groups collaborated on the development and beta-testing of this app, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Nurse-Midwives, and American Academy of Family Physicians. The app is currently available for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad devices; an android app is being developed.5 A Web-based version of this tool is available at http://www2a.cdc.gov/vaccines/m/gbs3/gbsped.html.
-Susan Blackburn, PhD, RN, FAAN
Professor Emeritus
Department of Family and Child Nursing
University of Washington, Seattle
References