Abstract
Mechanical ventilation in caring for sick newborns is an important element of pediatric resident and medical student training. Practical learning is now accomplished by actual patient care in the newborn intensive care unit. The purpose of this program is to provide an interactive, hands on learning experience for pediatric house staff and students.
A BASIC language computer program was developed utilizing the alveolar-air equation and reported data on oxygen consumption, airway resistance and lung compliance to calculate oxygen and carbon dioxide tensions. Utilizing these calculations, the student is presented with a hypothetical patient and is required to enter appropriate orders to adequately ventilate the child. Various other metabolic parameters, such as hematocrit, blood pressure and bicarbonate level must also be watched for their effects on the newborn's status.
The program has been extensively tested and has been found to give a relatively accurate simulation of the sick newborn on a mechanical ventilator. One group of students was given an objective written test before and after spending time with the computer. With no other instruction than that given by the program, their scores went from 60% (±7) to 72.5 (±8.7). This improvement is significant at a 95% confidence level.
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Fry, D., Bolam, D. & Nelson, R. 670B MICROCOMPUTER SIMULATION OF MECHANICAL VENTILATION IN A SICK NEWBORN. Pediatr Res 15 (Suppl 4), 552 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198104001-00685
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198104001-00685