New Technology in the NICU: Challenges to Parents and Clinicians

Technology has revolutionized all aspects of care in the NICU—design, monitoring, diagnosis, documentation, and home care. Efforts to improve outcome in high-risk infants foster the emergence and integration of new technology in NICUs. Some of them include amplitude-integrated electroencephalogram (aEEG), therapeutic hypothermia, and devices for communication and remote viewing, to name a few. As more technology is integrated into the clinical arena, parents and clinicians face technological, moral, and ethical challenges. Learning to use and interpreting technology and making it meaningful for families can increase the workload of clinicians. Enabling families to participate in care and facilitate bonding requires skill, motivation, and confidence from a compassionate care team. Judicious use of technology may offer hope and comfort to families, although it will not replace human caring.