The Children's Apnea Program has been in existence for over 20 years at Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health as a hospital based program with community outreach. The cornerstone of the program is cooperation among disciplines such as social work, nursing and pediatrics as well as communication with local hospitals, physicians, public health nurses and health care vendors across the state of Indiana.
Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health is the primary referral center for the evaluation of children with apnea for the State of Indiana and bordering areas of Illinois and Ohio. Physician referral is requested so that the physician at Riley at IU Health can work cooperatively with the infant's primary physician.
Patients are followed by using clinic visits and telephone calls. Follow-up information is routinely sent to the referring physician. Public Health nurses provide contact with patients we cannot reach by phone.
In the past 10 years, the program has enrolled over 3500 infants. Infants with ALTE's, infants who are a sibling of a SIDS infant, and premature infants with apnea account for the majority of patients. We currently have more than 500 patients at home with monitors.
Monitor Support
The Children's Apnea Program has an excellent working relationship with all apnea monitor vendors in Indiana so patients all over the state can be serviced by our program. All homecare vendors we use must provide 24 hour per day service and home visits as needed. We also have an apnea clinic, which meets two days per month, and new patients and follow-up patients can be evaluated five days per week. Patients have access to physicians seven days per week and are encouraged to call for problems. The apnea nurse devotes her time to helping patients with monitoring concerns or problems.
Related Programs
The Children's Apnea Program is supported by the Children's Apnea Laboratory, which was started in 1983 to transcribe and interpret pneumocardiograms and perform sleep studies. The Children's Apnea Laboratory processes oxypneumocardiograms (most by outside hospitals), multi-channel recordings and event recordings for hospital patients, outpatients and referral patients. Approximately 200 studies are performed per month. Riley Hospital for Children Pulmonary at Indiana University Health faculty members provide written interpretation on all studies. We guarantee and provide 48-hour turn around time for all studies once received and have a technician available on Saturday for scoring studies.
Our Policy is to provide a report to the physician and then be available for consultation regarding the findings. A recommendation for monitoring or specific treatment can not be appropriately made on the basis of a recording alone, but must take into consideration each patient's history, physical examination and family dynamics. Some abnormal findings require specific interventions or more evaluation.
The Children's Sleep Disorder Center was established in 1986 as a separate entity. Children with persistent symptoms, with obstructive apnea or complex airway problems, can undergo more extensive evaluation here.
Philosophy
It is important to recognize that Apnea is a symptom, not a disease. The focus of the Children's Apnea Center at Riley at IU Health l is to first evaluate an infant for potentially treatable causes of apnea or factors that might predispose to SIDS. Children with remedial problems or risk factors, are treated (or counseled if specific treatment is not available) and discharged on an apnea monitor with observation and intervention instructions.
The apnea monitor is a tool for alerting the parent to an alarm situation, and should not be considered a prevention for SIDS. Parent observation and intervention are the key to successful evaluation and treatment of apnea or apparent live threatening events (ALTE).
REDUCE THE RISK OF SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME: 1.800.433.0746
Director: Deborah Givan, MD
Nurse Coordinator: Noreen Kelly, RN, BSN
Respiratory Therapists: Vicki Long, RRT
Respiratory Therapists: Steve Little, RRT
For More Information
For more information call the Childrens Apnea Program at 317.274.9650.