Watch the HeartLight: Newborn Resuscitation video
When a newborn baby doesn’t breathe, every second counts.
Will you help save the lives of newborn babies and improve their outcomes?
The issue
Around 70,000 babies are born in the UK every year needing some form of resuscitation. The longer a baby isn’t breathing, the more chance it will develop brain damage or die.
A newborn’s heart rate is assessed every 30 seconds with a stethoscope during resuscitation. However, this can interfere with resuscitation, is subject to human error and may fail to detect sudden problems.
Almost 22,000 newborns are admitted to neonatal intensive care units in the UK each year. Many of the survivors will have long-term problems including lung disease, visual and hearing impairments and physical disabilities, such as cerebral palsy.
The first few minutes of life have been termed 'The Golden Minutes' as there is good evidence demonstrating that if we can improve resuscitation practice then we can improve the outcomes for these babies.
Our solution
The University’s engineering and clinical teams have developed a tiny, hands-free electronic heart rate sensor (HeartLight) that sits on a baby’s head and allows for uninterrupted resuscitation.
HeartLight has been evaluated in almost 200 babies during initial clinical trials. This included many very premature babies who needed significant resuscitation and intensive care.
We’re at a critical stage now, but we need funding to enhance the design to further improve resuscitation and the outcomes for these very vulnerable babies.
Our impact
The HeartLight monitor will help doctors and midwives to perform resuscitation during the first crucial minutes of a baby’s life without having to keep stopping to check the heart rate with a stethoscope. The valuable seconds saved could be the difference between life and death.
Improving newborn resuscitation has the potential to improve both short-term and long-term outcomes for babies and their families.
What will your Impact be?
Imagine waiting for that first cry. And hearing nothing. Our revolutionary HeartLight monitor will help doctors and midwives get babies breathing again more quickly, potentially saving more lives and preventing long-term problems.
Your support will have a genuine impact on the lives of newborn babies around the world.
University staff sign up to Support Heartlight
Under the new Small Change: Big Impact scheme, staff at The University of Nottingham are choosing to round their net pay to the nearest whole pound, with the pennies collected automatically and going to support a Campaign project – which this year is HeartLight. Staff reading this and wishing to sign up should log on to their Intranet Portal and click into the ‘Me’ tab.