BROOKLYN, N.Y., March 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Having a baby is a life-changing, joyous event. For those whose baby is born premature or with health complications, it is a time of anguish.

Advances in healthcare and neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) have improved morbidity and mortality rates, especially for premature babies, and this has led to longer stays in the hospital. A newborn may not come home for weeks or even months. New parents experience additional stress when the constraints associated with maternity leave, childcare for older siblings and transmitting infections severely limit the amount of time they can spend visiting their child in the NICU. Babies born at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., come from culturally diverse populations with post-partum practices that sometimes restrict or even quarantine new parents after delivery so they can recuperate, creating even more obstacles for them to seeing their hospitalized newborn.

Doctors Mary Rojas and Alok Bhutada at the Maimonides Medical Center are studying how hospitals can provide family-centered care under these challenging circumstances, and using technology to reduce NICU parents' stress while building confidence in their ability to manage the healthcare needs of their newborn. The technology they are using to conduct the study is Angel Eye Camera Systems, which uses live video-streaming and direct, one-way audio to enable parents to see and talk to their baby any time, day or night, when they log into a secure account page from their computer, smart phone or tablet.

Parents enrolled in the study are randomly assigned to receive access to either Angel Eye or a video scrapbook. To allow for an equitable comparison of effectiveness, families in the video scrapbook group receive twice weekly electronic videos with updated photographs taken of their infant that they can share with their family and friends through email or social media.

Over 50 families have been enrolled in the study so far, with family members using the Angel Eye system to view their baby from as far away as the U.K., Israel, China, Brazil, Spain, Finland, Japan, Thailand, Mexico, and Nigeria, as well as from cities across the United States.

"Based on the feedback that we've received so far, the Angel Eye appears to reduce the stress that parents feel from not being able to visit their baby in the NICU," says Dr. Alok Bhutada, Division Chief of Newborn Medicine at Maimonides Medical Center. "We believe the results of the study will reflect that hypothesis." The study will end in the summer of 2016.

ABOUT MAIMONIDES MEDICAL CENTER
With more than 2.6 million people, Brooklyn is the most populous borough of New York City. Nearly 50% of the residents in the communities served are foreign born; cultural sensitivity is vital to building a trusting relationship. Maimonides Medical Center is a nationally-recognized tertiary care teaching hospital in Brooklyn, New York. Recognized as Brooklyn's pre-eminent healthcare provider, Maimonides has 711 beds and over 70 sub-specialty programs; it employs more than 6,000 people, including 400 physician faculty. Maimonides' operates Brooklyn's only comprehensive Cancer and Breast Center, the only Infants and Children's Hospital, and a nationally-recognized Heart and Vascular Center and Stroke Care Program. Maimonides also has one of the largest teaching programs in the country among independent hospitals, training 500 residents and fellows each year.  The hospital has more than 40,000 annual inpatient discharges, 120,000 Emergency Room visits, and 200,000 outpatient visits.

ABOUT ANGEL EYE CAMERA SYSTEMS
Angel Eye Camera Systems, LLC, was founded in 2013 with the support of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) BioVentures. Angel Eye designs, develops and delivers Internet-based camera systems allowing parents and families to see and interact with their baby in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Angel Eye is headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, with offices in Nashville, Tennessee.

ABOUT INTERNATIONAL BIOMEDICAL
International Biomedical is an Austin, Texas based company that provides neonatal transport incubators, infant resuscitators, nitric oxide delivery systems and blood chemistry systems to hospitals worldwide. Our passion is to provide innovative products and technologies that meet the needs of even our tiniest customers and their families. They are the exclusive, worldwide distributor of the Angel Eye System.

For more information:

Tricia Ward, 615-610-2084
tward@angeleyecameras.com

SOURCE Angel Eye Camera Systems, LLC

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