Valleywise Health first Arizona hospital to implement new NICU technology through grant

Valleywise Health has become the first hospital in Arizona to use a new new technology to help stabilize umbilical lines for premature and critically ill infants.

The Phoenix-based health care system is using the LifeBubble Umbilical Line Securement System, a use made possible through a grant of more than $12,000 freom members of 100-plus Women Who Care Valley of the Sun to the Valleywise Health Foundation, which partnered with Valleywise Health NICU nursing staff to bring the technology to patients.

LifeBubble is designed to secure umbilical catheters used in newborns requiring critical care, reducing catheter migration and malposition while maintaining clinician access to the insertion site, the release said.

Clinical studies conducted at Oregon Health and Science University and Stanford Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and the 2024 Journal of Perinatology have demonstrated promising results, including reductions in catheter migration and high nursing satisfaction.

“Umbilical catheters are a vital lifeline for our most vulnerable patients, granting immediate access to medications, nutrition, fluids, and other lifesaving therapies during their critical first days," said Dr. Jody Carter, Chair of Pediatrics at Valleywise Health in the release.