Neonatal head and torso vibration exposure during inter-hospital transfer

Blaxter, L, Yeo, M, McNally, D, Crowe, J, Henry, C, Hill, S, Mansfield, N ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6769-1721, Leslie, A and Sharkey, D, 2017. Neonatal head and torso vibration exposure during inter-hospital transfer. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine, 231 (2), pp. 99-113. ISSN 0954-4119

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Abstract

Inter-hospital transport of premature infants is increasingly common, given the centralisation of neonatal intensive care. However, it is known to be associated with anomalously increased morbidity, most notably brain injury, and with increased mortality from multifactorial causes. Surprisingly, there have been relatively few previous studies investigating the levels of mechanical shock and vibration hazard present during this vehicular transport pathway. Using a custom inertial datalogger, and analysis software, we quantify vibration and linear head acceleration. Mounting multiple inertial sensing units on the forehead and torso of neonatal patients and a preterm manikin, and on the chassis of transport incubators over the duration of inter-site transfers, we find that the resonant frequency of the mattress and harness system currently used to secure neonates inside incubators is ~9Hz. This couples to vehicle chassis vibration, increasing vibration exposure to the neonate. The vibration exposure per journey (A(8) using the ISO 2631 standard) was at least 20% of the action point value of current European Union regulations over all 12 neonatal transports studied, reaching 70% in two cases. Direct injury risk from linear head acceleration (HIC15) was negligible. Although the overall hazard was similar, vibration isolation differed substantially between sponge and air mattresses, with a manikin. Using a Global Positioning System datalogger alongside inertial sensors, vibration increased with vehicle speed only above 60 km/h. These preliminary findings suggest there is scope to engineer better systems for transferring sick infants, thus potentially improving their outcomes.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine
Creators:	Blaxter, L., Yeo, M., McNally, D., Crowe, J., Henry, C., Hill, S., Mansfield, N., Leslie, A. and Sharkey, D.
Publisher:	Sage
Date:	2017
Volume:	231
Number:	2
ISSN:	0954-4119
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1177/0954411916680235 DOI
Rights:	This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	11 Jul 2018 08:36
Last Modified:	11 Jul 2018 08:39
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/34050

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