RT Book, Section
A1 Maisels, M. Jeffrey
A1 Stevenson, David K.
A1 Watchko, Jon F.
A1 McDonagh, Antony F.
A2 Stevenson, David K.
A2 Maisels, M. Jeffrey
A2 Watchko, Jon F.
SR Print(0)
ID 56323435
T1 Chapter 10. Phototherapy and Other Treatments
T2 Care of the Jaundiced Neonate
YR 2012
FD 2012
PB The McGraw-Hill Companies
PP New York, NY
SN 978-0-07-176289-2
LK accesspediatrics.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=56323435
RD 2024/04/19
AB We  owe  the  development  of  clinical  phototherapy  to  an  astute  observation  made,  more  than  50  years  ago,  by  Sister  J.  Ward,  the  nurse  in  charge  of  the  premature  baby  unit  at  the  former  Rochford  General  Hospital  in  Essex,  England.1  As  described  by  Dobbs  and  Cremer,  Sister  Ward  recognized  the  value  of  sunshine  and  fresh  air  to  all,  including  premature  babies,  and  she  would  take  the  “more  delicate  infants  out  into  the  courtyard,  sincerely  convinced  that  the  combination  of  fresh  air  and  sunshine  would  do  them  much  more  good  than  the  stuffy,  overheated  atmosphere  of  the  incubator.”1  During  a  ward  round  in  1956,  Sister  Ward  showed  the  pediatricians  a  jaundiced,  premature  infant  who  appeared  pale  yellow  except  for  a  triangle  of  skin  that  was  much  yellower  than  the  rest  of  the  body.  Apparently,  a  corner  of  the  sheet  had  covered  this  part  of  the  baby  and  the  Sister  recognized  that  the  rest  of  the  baby  had  been  “bleached”  by  the  sun.  (It  was  only  recognized  more  than  a  decade  later  that  the  mechanism  for  the  bleaching  of  yellow  serum  and  skin—photooxidation—probably  plays  a  minor  role  in  the  reduction  of  the  serum  bilirubin  concentration  in  newborns  treated  with  phototherapy.)2,3