Newborns at the UI Hospitals and Clinics may have fewer visitors to “goo” and “gah” at their flushed faces, as the hospital has already implemented its annual isolation policy to guard against the H1N1 flu.
The Respiratory Syncytial Virus Isolation Protocol is normally implemented in October and used to protect against the seasonal respiratory flu, but it went into effect on Sept. 10.
While no elements of the policy have been altered for the pediatric department as a whole, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit has implemented one key change.
Based on a suggestion from the epidemiology department, the neonatal care unit now requires that all people — doctors, nurses, or visitors — entering the unit wear gloves and protective face masks, said unit director Jonathan Klein.
Newborns, especially those in the neonatal care unit, he said, are extremely vulnerable to disease, specifically ones that are easily transmittable such as influenza.
“We’re being very aggressive,” Klein said. “We have very small babies who are very immune compromised.”
According to a report from the New England Journal of Medicine, between 8,400 and 11,700 children under the age of 2 are hospitalized yearly as a result of influenza.
Klein said the epidemiology department’s recommendation and the neonatal care unit’s implementation are based on the presence of the H1N1 virus in Iowa City. The neonatal care unit will continue the protective measure until the virus’s presence has “dropped off.”
The isolation protocol includes a complex screening process and a set of limitations for visitors.
The screening consists primarily of a set of questions regarding the visitor’s health. If hospital employees determine that the visitor has an illness that poses a threat to newborns, he or she will be asked to stay away.
In addition to the screening, the protocol restricts visits from children outside the baby’s immediate family. Normally, visits are left to the discretion of parents.
Moore said he could not recall another time when the protocol, which has been used at the UIHC for between 15 and 20 years, altered its starting time because of a virus such as H1N1.
Other hospitals around the state have considered, but not yet implemented, policies that would limit visits not only to newborns in the neonatal care unit, but to all babies during H1N1 outbreaks.
“It all depends on how the season ends up,” said Amy Varcoe, a spokeswoman for Iowa Health-Des Moines. “It will be nothing elaborate or scientific. If visitors have flu-like symptoms, we’ll just tell them not to come.”
Last week, Polk County officials informed Iowa Health-Des Moines that it should have a policy ready to protect newborns from H1N1.
As it stands, Iowa Health-Des Moines has a policy similar to that of the UIHC’s neonatal care unit. Last year, however, the hospital revised the policy to prohibit visits from siblings under 5 and non-siblings under 14 during high rates of illnesses.