Critical Bytes: Care of the premature infant - birth and beyond

Around 8-9% of babies in Australia are born preterm. Although special care and neonatal intensive care units are where most of their early care occurs, these children are also born unexpectedly in emergency departments regional and rural hospitals and later present to general practice, emergency departments and operating theatres where their gestation at birth continues to influence clinical decisions.

Course overview
Preterm infants are not simply smaller versions of term babies. Immaturity of the respiratory, neurological, metabolic, gastrointestinal and thermoregulatory systems can influence how they present, respond to illness and deteriorate. 

Developed for nurses working outside specialist neonatal settings, this 90-minute interactive webinar provides a practical approach to caring for preterm and ex-preterm infants across emergency, intensive care, primary care, community, rural and remote settings. Coinciding with World Prematurity Day, the session uses clinical cases to explore how to recognise, assess and care for a preterm infant.  

Course outline

• What prematurity means and how gestational, chronological and corrected age influence assessment.
• How immature respiratory, neurological, metabolic, gastrointestinal and thermoregulatory systems affect the preterm infant.
• The key neonatal history to obtain when assessing an infant born preterm.
• How to recognise subtle signs of deterioration, including changes in feeding, behaviour, breathing, temperature, colour and hydration.
• Common feeding challenges and the importance of suck–swallow–breathe coordination, feeding fatigue, hydration and glucose.
• The significance of common neonatal complications and what an infant’s NICU history may mean for their current care.
• Initial nursing priorities when a preterm or ex-preterm infant becomes unwell.
• Immediate priorities when an unexpected preterm birth occurs outside a specialist neonatal setting.
• When to seek senior, paediatric, neonatal or retrieval support and escalate care.

Clinical cases will demonstrate how these principles apply across acute, primary care and community nursing practice, giving you the opportunity to apply your learning to inform your practice. 

Why you should attend 

Preterm stabilisation is a low-frequency, high-acuity event for most nurses outside neonatal units. Recognising that preterm babies have different physiological needs and less reserve can be critical. A preterm or ex-preterm infant may not present with the signs you expect. Poor feeding, temperature instability, lethargy, apnoea or a subtle change noticed by a parent may be the first indication of significant illness. 

This webinar will help you build confidence in assessing infants born preterm without requiring specialist neonatal knowledge. The focus is on practical nursing care: knowing what questions to ask, what to assess, which findings should concern you, what supportive care you can initiate and when to escalate. 

The session is particularly relevant for nurses working in emergency, ICU, primary care, community health, paediatric or mixed services, and rural and remote healthcare settings. 

Learning objectives 

By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

1. Explain how prematurity affects the physiology and clinical needs of preterm and ex-preterm infants.
2. Apply gestational age, chronological age, corrected age and relevant neonatal history when assessing an infant born preterm.
3. Identify key assessment findings and early signs of deterioration in preterm and ex-preterm infants.
4. Recognise common clinical presentations that require further assessment, intervention or escalation.
5. Initiate appropriate nursing supportive care and escalation for a deteriorating preterm or ex-preterm infant.
6. Describe immediate priorities for stabilising an unexpectedly born preterm infant outside a specialist neonatal setting.