Ambulance for transporting premature baby

Maker
1. Jack Murphy
2. The Women's Hospital
Date
1949
Description
A conference called by the Victorian Hospitals and Charities Commission in December 1948 to discuss "The Prevention and Management of Premature Babies" determined that a standing committee should work towards producing certain items of equipment and material for pamphlets on the subject. Three people associated with the Women’s Hospital (Dr Ivon Hayes, Dr Kate Campbell and the Medical Superintendent Dr William Refshauge) were on this committee. One of the items needed was a 'hand ambulance' for transporting premature babies to institutions which had facilities for managing these babies.

As the HCC didn’t have a staff Engineer, it was suggested that the Women’s Hospital’s Engineer, Mr Jack Murphy might be able to assist and by January 1949 he had already commenced its construction - in his spare time in the evenings - under the guidance of Dr Refshauge and Paediatrician Dr Kate Campbell.

There is a photograph of the unit in use in the Women’s Hospital Annual Report of March 1949 where it’s recorded that at the time of writing it had already been instrumental in saving eight lives. It was intended that it should be used by the Victorian Civil Ambulance Service who would collect it from the hospital whenever a sick or premature baby had to be transported.

The Women’s also saw the value of the appliance for transporting babies within the hospital, from the Labour Ward or Theatre to the Prem Nursery, which in those days could mean moving between buildings.

In 1954 the Hospitals and Charities Commission, at the request of the Director of Maternal, Infant and Pre-School Welfare, Department of Health, issued information to the matrons of of midwifery hospitals concerning the care of premature babies. This ten-page document, prepared by the Women's paediatrician Dr Kate Campbell included instructions for the use of the premature baby ambulance. The hospital required about an hour to prepare the appliance for the Ambulance Service.

It was stressed not to transfer babies for at least 12 hours after birth and that the most favourable time was between 12 and 24 hours after birth, and not at night.

The prem ambulance is a heavy painted plywood box with a hinged glazed top. Smaller sliding perspex panels in the top gave access to the baby. The baby was placed in a basket hung from springs within the unit and was kept warm by hanging five hot water bottles between the basket and the walls. The unit also has adjustable air vents. A 14 cu.ft. oxygen cylinder was mounted in a small compartment at one end from where copper tubing carried the oxygen around the compartment behind the water bottles, ensuring it was warmed before reaching the baby. Pressure and flow guages and a thermometer are mounted on a panel within the unit and there are battery lights for night use.

It has chromed steel rails along all sides and certainly would need two strong people to carry it. A subsequent improvement was the construction of a well sprung carriage with three pneumatic tires so that it could be wheeled rather than carried. In 1969 Dr Refshauge wrote that his idea for the ambulance came from his war-time experiences and the reduced likelihood of injured soldiers going into shock if they were carried smoothly.

The unit was in use until 1966.

Sources:

* Correspondence from W D Refshauge to the Women’s Hospital Manager and Secretary, 25 January, 1949. (A2008_18_103)

* Women’s Hospital Annual Report, 1949. (A1990_11_036)

* Information issued for matrons of midwifery hospitals, 1954 within subject file, "Hospitals and Charities Commission, 1950-1955" (A2000_18_004)



The object now has a plastic doll in the basket with Royal Melbourne Hospital blanket and linens.
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