Course Objectives:

At the end of this activity, the participant should be able to:

• Describe the impact of the physical environment on the developing brain.
• Discuss how sleep differs in preterm infants from older children, and how it can be protected in the NICU.
• Explain how NICU design can be used to enhance the environment of care.
• Review differences in diagnosis, treatment, and outcome between mild and moderate/severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.
• Identify the potential for, and barriers to, use of stem cells to treat brain injury in the newborn.
• Describe similarities and differences in management of brain injury in neonates in high and low-resource settings.
• Discuss features of brain injury in children with congenital heart disease, and relate these to possible strategies for prevention and treatment.
• Review how to establish the prognosis after early brain injury and provide this in an understandable way for parents.

Competencies to be addressed:

Patient Care and Procedural Skills; Medical knowledge; Systems-based practice; Professionalism; work in interdisciplinary teams; employ evidence-based practice