HeartLight: Heart-Rate Monitoring for Neonatal Resuscitation

Approximately 10% of newborns require some form of resuscitation at birth, for example because the baby doesn’t begin breathing after delivery. If babies are not resuscitated effectively they can suffer a range of poor outcomes, for example cerebral palsy due to low oxygen levels. Effective resuscitation is guided by changes in heart rate (HR). Current methods of assessing HR (via a stethoscope) are prone to error, interrupt resuscitation or only give HR after too long (1-2 mins). SurePulse is a platform technology for monitoring HR whose effectiveness has already been studied on 210 babies. The objectives, for this joint clinical, design and engineering team, are to integrate the SurePulse optical sensor into a single use newborn hat and undertake clinical studies on newborn babies. The hat will enable clinicians to resuscitate ‘hands-free’, reduce delays and errors, and so improve resuscitation outcomes, giving newborn babies the best start to life.