Premature babies need breathing support, from several weeks to months, while admitted to the Intensive Care Nursery (ICN). This is provided through a system called continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). Dr. Lai’s project aimed to determine which babies could benefit from custom-printed CPAP devices.

CPAP consists of a set of nasal prongs or a small mask over the baby’s nose. For the smallest survivors, parts of the CPAP device can cause facial injuries, which are painful and can be disfiguring. This is an exciting Australia-first innovation study, researching how 3D scanning technology and custom-printed CPAP devices can minimise neonatal injury and improve ventilation for the tiniest patients. With approximately 100 extremely low birthweight babies being cared for at RBWH each year and some requiring CPAP for 30 to 100+ days, this research can significantly impact and improve the ICN experience for thousands of babies at RBWH alone.

The outcomes of this project will lay the foundations for improving CPAP devices to reduce the number and extent of injuries these babies experience daily. This study has trained 13 neonatal clinicians in 3D scanning techniques and scanned 32 babies to support the innovation of neonatal care devices within the Herston Health Precinct. Neonatal doctors and nurses can safely access and complete 3D scans, which will help re-design breathing support devices for babies and more realistic resuscitation dolls to train the next generation of neonatal experts.