Home phototherapy in the United Kingdom
- 1Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee DD1 9SY, Scotland, UK
- 2Department of Epidemiology, University of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School
- 3Maternal and Child Health Sciences, University of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School
- Correspondence to:
Dr Fowlie;
peter.w.fowlietuht.scot.nhs.uk
Although successful home treatment of neonatal jaundice using fibre-optic phototherapy units has been reported elsewhere,1,2 we are not aware of any such provision in the United Kingdom. We have introduced a regional home phototherapy programme in Tayside, Scotland and wonder if our initial experience would be of interest to others.
Before introducing the service, hospital and community midwives undertook training covering inclusion criteria (physiological jaundice in well, term infants), the treatment protocol, equipment use (Biliblanket, Ohmeda), and the assessment of parental competence. The protocol conditions were: a daily capillary …
