Editor's Corner

Advances in Patient Care

by Michael E. Speer, MD

Change is progress. That is especially true of change which enhances the care that we can give to our patients or which involves our patients’ families more in the care of their babies. Sometimes change occurs in an exponential manner; more often it is the culmination of a succession of small steps.

This issue of NeoNatalNews.Net includes two articles that address changes that can improve the care we offer to our babies. One change is a result of a progression of small steps; the other has the potential for significant modification in the way we deliver surgical care.

The first describes the enhancement of an ongoing project — The Ronald MacDonald House. By bringing the House inside Texas Children’s Hospital and close to the NICU and other nursery units, our parents’ anxieties can be lessened through their increased involvement in the care of their babies. The second illustrates possible future advances that some day we might take for granted — fetal surgery. If congenital malformations can be successfully repaired while the fetus is in utero, the burden of disease for that baby after birth will be lessened enormously. Progress is good.