Baby monitor

Researchers at Nottingham University have been awarded £112,000 to develop a prototype of a new electronic monitor that could potentially improve the treatment given to hundreds of babies every year.

The tiny device, being developed by Dr Barrie Hayes-Gill, Dr John Crowe and Mark Grubb in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, in collaboration with neonatologists Prof Neil Marlow and Dr Don Sharkey in the Academic Division of Child Health, uses a small optical probe that measures changes in blood flow under the skin of the baby’s forehead to determine the pulse.

The new device will be aimed primarily at helping doctors and midwives to treat the most vulnerable babies, those born very prematurely, whose specialist care requirements make monitoring of their heart rate particularly challenging.

The funding from Action Medical Research will also allow the researchers to put the device through its paces in patient trials to assess how it performs in a clinical setting on neonatal units and delivery suites.