A heated blanket developed by UC Merced-based startup St. Vincent’s Solutions won’t help babies get to sleep – but it could reduce ventilator-associated pneumonia for infants in neonatal intensive care.
Rather than wrapping the infant, the silicon blanket wraps the tubes that bring warm, humidified air to the incubator. By keeping the air within the tubes at a constant temperature, the blanket reduces condensation, which can be a breeding ground for infectious bacteria.
It’s a simple solution, but one that could have a big impact on the hospital’s tiniest patients. Paul Barghouth, a UC Merced graduate student in the quantitative and systems biology program, helped develop the device and has co-founded a startup to bring it to market.
Premature babies need humidified air piped to their developing lungs, but treating the air and transporting it can cause condensation and other problems, which the blanket is intended to help address.
Ventilator-associated pneumonia is widespread in neonatal intensive care units across the country. The illness costs hospitals thousands of dollars to treat, and can lead to dangerous complications for the fragile neonates.
“We’re trying to cut the problem off before it even starts by reducing the possibility the infections will occur,” Barghouth said.
Read more about Barghouth and his research here.
