Te Whatu Ora Waikato Neonatal Clinical Guidelines Disclaimer
The Clinical Guidelines:
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were not created as medical advice for members of the public. They were developed for use in the Te Whatu Ora Waikato Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). It is intended as guidance to assist clinicians with decisions about appropriate management of a range of health conditions for neonates;
- contains recommendations concerning investigations and management of medical problems in neonates and should not be used when treating children or adults;
- should not be relied on as direct medical advice and is not a substitute for conversations between a parent/caregiver and a physician - specific details about the infant’s health are vital when considering treatment;
- will be updated electronically. It is essential to use the most up-to-date version available.
Disclaimer:
These guidelines were designed as a general guide to appropriate practice and were not intended to avoid the necessity for an individual examination, and assessment of appropriate courses of treatment on a case-by-case basis. Clinicians should therefore consider the information provided carefully, but not stick slavishly to these recommendations or to drug doses if they consider that they are incorrect or inappropriate.
Although reasonable care has been taken in preparing these guidelines, any guidance of this sort has the potential to contain errors in both fact and opinion. In particular, there is the possibility that specific data (particularly drug doses and recommendations about drug administration) could be inaccurate. What is more, recommendations about specific investigation pathways could contain errors, or may be superseded in time by newer, more appropriate guidelines or pathways.
Clinicians should consult other sources of information, especially if there is some doubt, including product information sheets, Te Whatu Ora Waikato intranet Drug References – Paediatric and Neonates, Paediatric Antimicrobial Prescribing and New Zealand Formulary for prescribing information, and the laboratory ranges for investigation results.
While we are happy to make these guidelines accessible for use at other institutions, it is the responsibility of the health care practitioners using these guidelines to adapt them for safe use within their institutions and for the individual needs of patients.
Trade names used in these guidelines are for identification and exemplar purposes only. They do not imply endorsement of any particular drug or vaccine.
This site does not accept referrals or provide clinical advice in response to questions.