Video Description: New July 2022! A clinical trial in Missouri is testing an innovation from the University of Missouri College of Engineering that’s designed to spare premature babies from possible devastating health problems related to oxygen levels received in neonatal intensive care units. Providing too much oxygen for certain premature babies can cause blindness, and too little oxygen can cause brain damage and other negative health effects. Currently, the small and personalized adjustments — to either raise or lower the level of oxygen provided — must be made by hand under the careful attention of nurses and respiratory therapists. Now, a clinical trial will test the new device designed by Roger Fales, PhD, an associate professor and associate dean in the College of Engineering, that could make those needed adjustments for premature babies in a NICU — automatically. Fales compares it to the way cruise control works in a vehicle.

• Have your students journal about what they think working in a neonatal unit would be like. Would automating oxygen levels make them feel more secure or not?