A study to assess the effect of polyethylene cover on selected physiological parameters among neonates in tertiary care centres of Sangli and Miraj City

Abstract

Maintaining an appropriate environmental temperature is the very crucial step to prevent hypothermia in neonates. The World Health Organization recommends the delivery room temperature be at least 250C to 28 0C and that neonates should be dried immediately and apply skin-to skin contact with the mother. Drying the baby as early as possible post birth, bringing the child and mother into close contact to each other and wrapping both of them in a thick, clean blanket will help prevent hypothermia. At the time of birth, neonates should be immediately dried and then swaddled (including the head) in a warm blanket to prevent evaporative, conductive and convective losses. After birth, deep body and skin temperature of the term newborn can drop at a rate of approximately 0.10°C and 0.30°C per minute respectively unless immediate action is taken. For a neonate, placement into polythene bag immediately after the delivery has been found to be helpful in maintaining the neonate s thermoregulation. newlineNeonates with plastic coverings on their torsos and extremities can avoid hypothermia by limiting conduction and evaporative heat loss. Polyethylene bags decreased heat losses by 0.7 °C in newborns 28 weeks old, with a 44 percent drop in hypothermia noticed, according to a recent Cochrane evaluation of therapies to avoid hypothermia in full term babies. Neonatal between 28 and 31 weeks of gestation showed no reduction in heat loss, and no gestational age showed any reduction in mortality. newlineProblem statement: newline A Study to Assess the Effect of Polyethylene Cover on Selected Physiological Parameters Among Neonates in Tertiary Care Centres of Sangli- Miraj City. newlineSignificance of the study: newlineThe use of polyethylene cover can be considered as an effective and safe additional intervention to help to prevent hypothermia in term neonates.