Evaluating the Effectiveness of Gel Pillows to Reduce Bilateral Head Flattening in Preterm Infants

The article “Evaluating the effectiveness of gel pillows for reducing bilateral head flattening in preterm infants: a randomized control pilot study,” by Alyce A. Schultz, RN, PhD, FAAN; Patricia A. Goodwin, RNC; Cynthia Jesseman, RN, NNP; Heidi G. Toews, RN, BSN; Megan Lane, RN, FNP-C; and Christine Smith, RN, BSN was appropriately titled and gave an overall insight into the article at hand. All of the researchers qualifications were of a high caliber, indicating they were all knowledgeable and qualified to perform this study. The abstract included in this quantitative article was extremely insightful, as well as descriptive. This thorough abstract included the purpose of the study, which was evaluating the effectiveness of gel pillows for reducing bilateral head flattening in preterm infants. Although the methodology was clearly stated in the abstract, the conclusion was not. Without having a clearly stated conclusion, upon first glance, it was difficult to see what the results of the study achieved. Although the problem was clearly stated in the introduction of this article, it was a bit unclear how sudden infant death syndrome, as well as increasing the survival of very low birth weight infants had any relevance to the problem at hand. Although it took a bit of time, the authors were eventually able to tie the information together. It was explained that in the 1990s, there was “an alarming rise in the number of premature infants presenting with plagiocephaly without syntosis, reported by several craniofacial centers.” Insert citation Gathering more current data would make for a more efficient, as well as accurate study. The authors also properly explained why plagiocephaly without syntosis was such an issue, as well as the solution, which was quite simple, a gel pillow. The correlation between the problem and the solution suggested that the study would prove to be successful.