heart defects in neonates, HELP!!!!

umcRN, BSN, RN · Mar 9, 2013

Well that's kind of a loaded question.

First does your NICU keep the cardiac kids? Do they send them off to a cardiac ICU or keep them until surgery or after surgery? There are HUNDREDS of cardiac defects.

The one you WILL see in a NICU is the PDA, however if you don't keep the cardiac babies you will only see them briefly until the docs figure out its a cardiac problem and send them on their way.

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Mar 9, 2013

The MAJOR defects are:

1)The so-called 'single ventricle defects' are hypoplastic LEFT heart and pulmonary atresia (AKA hypoplastic RIGHT heart)

2)Transposition of the great vessels (aorta and pulmonary artery reversed)

3)Tetralogy of Fallot (over-riding aortic arch, rv hypertrophy, VSD and pulmonary stenosis)

4)Patent ductus arteriosus

5)AV canal

6)TAPVR (total anomalous pulmonary venous return)

7) truncus arteriosis

8) aortic stenosis and interrupted aortic arch

If you go to The Chidlrens Heart Institute >> here>> Home > scroll to the bottom of the home page and click on the 'heart house' link. It contains a really understandable introduction to these and many more defects, using a model of a house as a visual aid. The chambers are rooms, the valves are doors, and the blood flow sidewalks around the house. I refer parents to this site a LOT.

Oh, and there really are about a hundred ways you can be born with a jacked up heart. It's amazing.

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Mar 9, 2013

Oh, I forgot ASD and VSD (atrial and ventricular septal defects)

ashleynicole0590 · Mar 9, 2013

Well that's kind of a loaded question.
First does your NICU keep the cardiac kids? Do they send them off to a cardiac ICU or keep them until surgery or after surgery? There are HUNDREDS of cardiac defects.
The one you WILL see in a NICU is the PDA, however if you don't keep the cardiac babies you will only see them briefly until the docs figure out its a cardiac problem and send them on their way.

Yes our NICU keeps the cardiac cases until surgery and after surgery for simple procedures. However if they have open heart they are transferred to the PICU post surgery.

ashleynicole0590 · Mar 9, 2013

The MAJOR defects are:
1)The so-called 'single ventricle defects' are hypoplastic LEFT heart and pulmonary atresia (AKA hypoplastic RIGHT heart)
2)Transposition of the great vessels (aorta and pulmonary artery reversed)
3)Tetralogy of Fallot (over-riding aortic arch, rv hypertrophy, VSD and pulmonary stenosis)
4)Patent ductus arteriosus
5)AV canal
6)TAPVR (total anomalous pulmonary venous return)
7) truncus arteriosis
8) aortic stenosis and interrupted aortic arch
If you go to The Chidlrens Heart Institute >> here>> Home > scroll to the bottom of the home page and click on the 'heart house' link. It contains a really understandable introduction to these and many more defects, using a model of a house as a visual aid. The chambers are rooms, the valves are doors, and the blood flow sidewalks around the house. I refer parents to this site a LOT.
Oh, and there really are about a hundred ways you can be born with a jacked up heart. It's amazing.

Thank you! I will be sure to check out that website :)

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Mar 9, 2013

Our NICU transfers them to us for surgery and we return them a week or so later (after they're extubated and off vasoactive drips) so they can learn how to be a baby. So it's important to know the first stage repairs even if you work in NICU- so you have an understanding of WHY that hypoplast's sat is in the 70s all the time!!!

aerorunner80, ADN, BSN, MSN, APRN · Mar 16, 2013

STABLE has a really great Cardiac module that you may want to look into. The things I try to remember if if the defect is cyanotic or not (R-L or L-R shunt), and if it is ductal dependent or not. That really helps me get a baseline on what I need to do and expect and then I go from there.