Women & Infants, Brown Have Participation in Research Networks Renewed
Monday, April 11, 2016
Women & Infants Hospital and The Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University have been notified that their participation in the Maternal Fetal Medicine Units Network (MFMU) and Neonatal Research Network (NRN), research networks has been renewed for the 5 year cycle beginning in 2016.
“Women & Infants Hospital is committed not only to providing the highest quality, most compassionate care to the women and newborns of our region and to educating the next generation of caregivers, but also to forging discoveries that inform treatments today, tomorrow and for centuries to come. As one of the nation’s largest and most prestigious research facilities in high risk and normal obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics, we are gratified to again be selected for participation in such highly regarded networks as the Maternal Fetal Medicine Units Network and the Neonatal Research Network,” said Mark R. Marcantano, president and chief operating officer, Women & Infants Hospital.
Women & Infants/Brown is the only a hospital in New England and only one of a few across the country to be part of both networks at the same time.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"Some of the most inspiring outcomes of the partnership between Alpert Medical School and our affiliated hospitals, such as Women & Infants, are those where we can show that rigorous research translates directly to better care for patients. Participating in these networks ensures that women and babies in Rhode Island have access to the leading edge of care," says Jack A. Elias, MD, dean of medicine and biological sciences at Brown.
Maternal Fetal Medicine Units Network
The MFMU Network is a combination of 12 clinical centers across the U.S. whose job is to investigate problems in clinical obstetrics. Women & Infants/Brown have been participating in the MFMU Network since 2001 and is the only one in New England.
The Network conducts randomized clinical trials that are aimed at improving outcomes for pregnant women and their offspring. The trials directly inform the guidelines of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and clinical obstetric practice in the U.S. and abroad.
As a result of the trials, it is now routine in the U.S. to:
• Use weekly 17-alpha hydroxyprogesterone caproate to prevent repeat preterm birth.
• Administer antibiotics to women with preterm premature rupture of membranes to improve neonatal health.
• Give women in early preterm labor magnesium sulfate to lower the chance that their baby will suffer from cerebral palsy.
• Treat mild gestational diabetes to improve maternal and neonatal health.
Neonatal Research Network
“The Neonatal Research Network has conducted a number of important clinical trials which have improved the outcomes of sick newborns and changed how neonatologists care for their patients. Not all trials performed by the NRN have changed clinical practice; even when this occurs, the results are important to guide neonatologists as to what treatments are not helpful and should not be used.," said Abbot Laptook, MD, medical director of the neonatal intensive care unit, professor of pediatrics at the Alpert Medical School, and principal investigator for the Women & Infants/Brown Neonatal Research Network.
Treatments that have been demonstrated in NRN trials to help newborn infants include:
• Therapeutic hypothermia: This trial demonstrated that cooling the brain from a normal temperature to 92.3oF for three days is the only treatment to be of benefit for infants with a serious brain condition at birth, encephalopathy.
• Targeted oxygen saturations: This trial showed the risks and benefits of maintaining oxygen levels either high or low in extremely preterm infants requiring supplemental oxygen.
• Aggressive phototherapy: This trial demonstrated better outcomes of extremely preterm infants when phototherapy for yellow jaundice was used aggressively compared to conservative use.
• Vitamin A supplementation: This trial demonstrated that administration of vitamin A over the first month of life decreased the risk of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (BPD, a form of chronic lung disease) among extremely low birth weight infants.
• Prophylactic Indocin: Administration of low doses of Indocin (similar to aspirin) in the first 24 hours of life reduces the extent of severe intracranial hemorrhage among extremely low birth weight infants.
• Inhaled nitric oxide: This trial helped clinicians understand when to start nitric oxide therapy for serious conditions affecting the circulation to and within the lungs among infants born at term.
Women & Infants has been selected to participate in the Neonatal Research Network for each five year cycle since 1991.
Women + Infants Hospital
Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, is one of the nation’s leading specialty hospitals for women and newborns.
Related Slideshow: Check Out The Grades: Rhode Island Hospitals Report Card
A recent survey released by The Leapfrog Group assigns a Hospital Safety Score, using the report card system of A to F to each of the hospitals in Rhode Island. These grades are based on expert analysis of injuries, infections and errors that cause harm or death during a hospital stay.
Let's see how each of Rhode Island's hospitals were graded from highest to lowest:
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