Newborn blood testing?

baby&mommynurse · Apr 13, 2005

Depends on what type of blood draw you are talking about. A newborn can get blood drawn shortly after birth if indicated. Our protocols state that we are to check hematocrits for IDMs, placenta previas, abruptions, multiples... we do blood sugars on IDMs, LGAs, SGAs or if the infant is symptomatic. CBCs and CRPs are done per MD order, mostly for GBS positive moms who've had prolonged ROM and no antibiotics were given or if the infant is symptomatic for sepsis. If an infant turns jaundiced, an MD will order for a bilirubin. The MD will order for a repeat of abnormal tests about 6-12 hours after or the next morning. Blood types, ABO and Coombs tests are generally obtained from cord blood. The newborn screen test or PKU is done aproximately 24 hours after birth.

If you are mainly talking about blood sugars, here's a recent thread about that...

https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98032&highlight=glucose+testing+infants

TiffyRN, BSN, PhD · Apr 13, 2005

For healthy newborns I think the only tests our hospital runs are a bedside glucose then a newborn screen after 24hrs of protein intake. The newborn screen (sometimes called statescreen or years ago PKU) is generally repeated 1-4 weeks later in the doctor's office. But I'm not completely sure about the healthy newborn nursery since I work NICU and most of our kids have a ton of different labs drawn.

baby&mommynurse · Apr 13, 2005

For healthy newborns I think the only tests our hospital runs are a bedside glucose then a newborn screen after 24hrs of protein intake. The newborn screen (sometimes called statescreen or years ago PKU) is generally repeated 1-4 weeks later in the doctor's office. But I'm not completely sure about the healthy newborn nursery since I work NICU and most of our kids have a ton of different labs drawn.

I work in the healthy newborn nursery and the labs I talked about in my previous post are the most common labs that are ordered on our infants. After discharge home, I don't know what other labs a baby will need... except sometimes a doctor will order a repeat outpatient bilirubin if the infant is likely to remain jaundice. KST1123, I hope we've helped answering your question.

SmilingBluEyes · Apr 14, 2005

don't forget newborn screening, e.g. PKU. this is done on all newborns (with parental consent) prior to discharge. One-time stick, filling a card and depending on state, tests for numerous errors of metabolism/genetic problems of certain types. Check this site to see what they test for in YOUR state:

http://www.aboutnewbornscreening.com/stats.htm

KST1123 · Apr 15, 2005

don't forget newborn screening, e.g. PKU. this is done on all newborns (with parental consent) prior to discharge. One-time stick, filling a card and depending on state, tests for numerous errors of metabolism/genetic problems of certain types. Check this site to see what they test for in YOUR state:
http://www.aboutnewbornscreening.com/stats.htm

Thank you, I really appreciate your help!

KST1123 · Apr 15, 2005

I work in the healthy newborn nursery and the labs I talked about in my previous post are the most common labs that are ordered on our infants. After discharge home, I don't know what other labs a baby will need... except sometimes a doctor will order a repeat outpatient bilirubin if the infant is likely to remain jaundice. KST1123, I hope we've helped answering your question.

Thank you......really appreciate your reply!

KST1123 · Apr 15, 2005

For healthy newborns I think the only tests our hospital runs are a bedside glucose then a newborn screen after 24hrs of protein intake. The newborn screen (sometimes called statescreen or years ago PKU) is generally repeated 1-4 weeks later in the doctor's office. But I'm not completely sure about the healthy newborn nursery since I work NICU and most of our kids have a ton of different labs drawn.

Thank you for replying!!!! Great help!