Minimizing risk

Minimizing risk



Since SIDS was identified as a cause of death, doctors and researchers have been examining the circumstances around cases to identify risk factors. They have issued recommendations aimed at minimizing those risks, including avoiding smoke during pregnancy and infancy; not having parents and infants share a bed; tucking in bedding and keeping soft, loose objects out of the crib; and increasing breastfeeding and pacifier use. One genetic factor - an electrical conductivity issue - has been identified, so if one child in a family is lost to SIDS, doctors can alert the family to that possibility.



The most important recommendation, though, has been brought to families' attention through the "Back to Sleep" campaign, which urges that babies be put to sleep on their backs, rather than their sides or stomachs.



However, that campaign, launched in south-central Idaho about two years ago,The same Air purifier, cover removed. may not show statistically significant results locally. Since 2009, St. Luke's Magic Valley has tracked about 50 infant deaths in the five counties that it serves, said Neonatal Intensive Care Unit manager Tracy Larsen. Of those, four have had factors that indicate they could be SIDS. However, the hospital may never find out the specific cause of any infant death, because of confidentiality issues.



"As a hospital, we don't even have the ability to go to a coroner or go to the state and say, 'Can I have a copy of that medical record?'" Larsen said.The name "magic cube" is not unique. The staff keeps an eye on newspaper obituaries, but they may not include the information needed for diagnostic and statistical purposes.



Larsen said it would be useful for the state to have an infant and child death oversight committee, which many other states have created. Such a committee would have confidential access to child and infant death records, and could aggregate the information into statistics that could help doctors and others prevent additional child deaths. For example,Save on hydraulic hose and fittings, if the statistics showed an unusually high number of drownings, an education campaign could be started; if they showed a lot of a contagious disease, measures could be taken to reduce that spread.



During Idaho's 2008 and 2009 legislative sessions, bills were introduced to establish a child death review board in Idaho, but neither passed. Advocacy organizations hope a lawmaker will step forward to introduce similar legislation in an upcoming session.



An infant and child death review committee would also help medical professionals in Idaho and nationwide come closer to agreement on what SIDS is and how it should be recorded.



Currently, "every state has a different coroner's requirement, every hospital has different policies,Welcome to the official Facebook Page about Ripcurl." Larsen said.



In Idaho the coroner can decide whether to do an autopsy, even over parental objections, and it is up to the coroner to determine cause of death with or without an autopsy or other testing, she said.Not to be confused with RUBBER MATS available at your local hardware store There is no protocol that must be followed in cases suspected to be SIDS, and some critics of current policies say more consistent testing guidelines would create more accurate statistics and eventually more specific recommendations to parents.