July 06, 2010| Parents of ill newborns can now see and talk to their babies 24 hours a day under a major upgrade to the cameras used in the neonatal intensive care unit at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).

Sarah Rhoads, a doctor of nursing practice and advanced practice nurse, and Shannon Lewis, R.N., a neonatal nurse, helped show off the new Angel Eye Web camera system at a recent campus-wide open house.

“This represents not only the latest technology but a total rethinking of how to provide the best video experience for parents who are away from their babies in the NICU,” said Rhoads, who spearheaded the innovation. “We’ve added audio, streamlined the process for parents to access their baby’s camera, and the camera is available to them 24 hours a day.”

The NICU has 10 new Angel Eye cameras for its 58 private NICU patient rooms. Funding for the Angel Eye program came from a $31,750 grant from the Gertrude E. Skelly Charitable Foundation.

Rhoads has applied for additional grant funding to buy more cameras, and she is leading research on the camera’s effect on mother-baby bonding.

The upgrade is another example of the nationally leading role played by UAMS ANGELS (Antenatal and Neonatal Guidelines, Education and Learning System), a program that uses the latest communications technology to provide long-distance care to rural Arkansas women and their newborns. Both the ANGELS and Angel Eye program were created by Curtis Lowery, M.D., chairman of the UAMS Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and a maternal-fetal medicine specialist.

The new camera system, which is integrated with equipment that’s part of each baby’s technically sophisticated isolette, is believed to be the only one of its kind in the United States. Rhoads and other ANGELS officials are working with UAMS BioVentures to market the camera system to hospitals worldwide.

The first-generation Angel Eye camera, introduced in 2006, was an exciting breakthrough for parents who were unable to stay at the hospital due to work and other obligations. The program was the first in the United States to deliver real-time video of hospitalized infants directly to their remote families. But those cameras were mounted on IV poles and were rolled to the side of a baby’s isolette. Nurses could not immediately know what parents were seeing on their computer screens back home, so it was difficult to get the camera aimed just right. For parents, signing in to the computer/camera system was tedious. There also were limits on the time spent viewing their baby, and if lights were off, the camera couldn’t show the baby.

The redesigned camera is mounted in a protective casing on an arm that swings above the isolette. When a nurse positions the camera above the baby, it provides a wide view, ensuring that the baby is seen by family back home or wherever they have computer access. The new cameras, available 24 hours a day, have better picture quality and are capable of showing the baby in total darkness.

The new audio feature regulates sound levels no matter how loud it is coming through the isolette speaker from a parent’s microphone. Whether it’s a barking dog or a loud sibling, the audio system limits the sound in the isolette to 65 decibels.

ANGELS and NICU leaders believe the camera system will have long-term benefits for the physical and emotional health of both the baby and the parents.

“We believe the program will improve bonding between the mother and baby, improve communication between parents and the NICU staff, reduce stress and anxiety for the parents, and improve the on-going management of our critically ill infants,” Rhoads said.