Q. re:Decline after rec'g care

[77for2011]

Hi all,

My experience has been in Cardiac Telemetry and Wound Care. I've started working at a clinic in Haiti. We get a lot of sick babies. Many super young, like less than 1 month, and up to 1 year old. They come in super sick, with respiratory distress, O2 in the 70-80s, severe anemia, blood sugars too low for meter to read, extreme malnutrition. We refer those out to inpatient care at facilities we trust. The issue is that they will report that the kid has gotten stable, and is on the track to recovery. Then like 1-2 weeks later, they end up dying. I'm wondering why, if they started doing well, did they turn back the other way???

Can anyone answer this?

Thanks!

Jessica P.

Children's Health Ministries – Healthy Kids. Strong Families. Hope in Jesus Christ.

Proffit : Commission To Every Nation

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

Because Haiti is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere and temporary gains often reverse themselves once acute care interventions cease. Tragic but true..

[babyNP., APRN]

These kids's bodies probably compensate as much as they can- had done for months to years.

Then when you "give them a little" and give their bodies a chance to have a break and recover and their poor little bodies stop compensating and pass out after being under so much pressure for so long.

That would be my guess. Understand though that there is no way we can quantify any of this and I'm not sure why you would think that we would have any idea knowing what's going on without actually being there... (??)

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

Just because " they will report that the kid has gotten stable, and is on the track to recovery" doesn't mean that they are truly stable and on the track to recovery. They are as stable as they can be in the setting they are in. It is not as if these kids are being sent to Boston Children's or CHOP, it is a third world hospital that doesn't have the most up to date diagnostic and treatment tools at their disposal.