How long after a delivery can you Dubowitz?

Trauma Columnist · Jul 1, 2005

Hunh??? I'm not a L&D RN, but gee whiz - what does this mean?

JVanRN · Jul 1, 2005

Isn't it a type of scale to determine gestational age? Like a ballard scale? I guess I should look. If that's what it is...we have to do our ballards with in 2-4 hours. I need to go look this up.

dawngloves, BSN, RN · Jul 1, 2005

Hunh??? I'm not a L&D RN, but gee whiz - what does this mean?

:chuckle Mind out of the gutter please! It's when you determine gestational age of a baby by examining things like creases on the feet and posture at rest.

I was trying to find a good chart online for you, but no go.

dawngloves, BSN, RN · Jul 1, 2005

Oh and yes, it can be called a Dubowitz or a Ballard. I worked at a place where we called it a Ballard because the Chief of Neonatology was....... :rolleyes:

prmenrs, RN · Jul 1, 2005

I think it should be done w/in the 1st 24hrs. Sometimes the kid is too unstable to do the whole thing, but you can do some of it.

dawngloves, BSN, RN · Jul 2, 2005

I think it should be done w/in the 1st 24hrs. Sometimes the kid is too unstable to do the whole thing, but you can do some of it.

Sometimes we'll do the physical assesment and double it, but it drives me nuts when no one does it at all and the dates are questionable! I was wondering how acurate it is after 24 hours.

QTBabyNurse, BSN, RN · Jul 2, 2005

we do our dubowitz at 12 hours of age.

Gompers, BSN, RN · Jul 3, 2005

If the baby is stable, they do it within an hour or two of birth. If unstable, they shoot for anywhere in the first 24 hours.

Mimi2RN, ASN, RN · Jul 3, 2005

I was taught to do them after 2 hours of age, and preferably during the first day. I know that the docs sometimes do them with the physical shortly after birth, though.

RainDreamer, BSN, RN · Jul 3, 2005

When I did my preceptorship in the NICU a couple months ago, I did a few days in well-baby nursery. We always did the Dubowitz right after they came in the nursery, even before the bath, so the babies were just a couple hours old.

The neonatologist (really nice man, went out of his way to teach me a ton of stuff while I was there) told me that the Dubowitz is more accurate at 24 hours of age.

KRVRN, BSN, RN · Jul 3, 2005

What about a baby that's been sedated? We always try to get the Dubowitz done before we give any sedation. Of course if it's a baby that needs sedation that bad, it's probably one that we'll forego doing it anyway. The neonatologists usually have an opinion of how far along the baby is even without the Dubowitz.

And 'fess up y'all... who has gone back and redone some of tests when the number total doesn't add up to what you think it should be??? ("well, let me do that square window again, maybe it's really 45 degrees instead of 60...")