Title: Educational project. Application of osteopathic medicine in the neonatal and infant period

Biography:

Paula Rodríguez has just started in the world of research after finishing college in 2018. Without having any previous experience in research, she has presented this project that aims to achieve an improvement in maternal and child health care, area in which she wants to focus her studies. She is currently working in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Mother-Child Hospital belonging to the Gregorio Marañón General University Hospital, in which she intends to implement the educational project presented.

Abstract

Statement of the Problem: Osteopathic medicine is a form of drug-free, non-invasive manual medicine, classified as a complementary and alternative medicine. It involves manual contact of body structures with slight pressures that, in addition, produce a stimulating effect of the organism's own health resources. All this suggests that its indication in the neonatal and infant period should be high, being necessary to know its contribution during this period, especially in the most vulnerable newborns, premature infants. Many studies and cases have shown the existence of clinical and scientific evidence on the benefits of this manual therapy in some of the pathologies present in childhood. Due to the close relationship between nursing professionals and their patients, nurses play a fundamental role in providing health education to patients. For this reason, this educational project focuses on nursing professionals in the NICU of Mother-Child Hospital belonging to the Gregorio Marañón General University Hospital, with the aim of making them aware of the great benefits provided by this therapy during the neonatal and infancy periods; in addition to the pathologies which respond well to osteopathic treatment, and how to recognize and select a legally accredited osteopath. Thus, in many cases, improvements in children’s health would be seen, as well as a reduction in the costs associated with these diseases.

Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: I conducted a systematic review, aiming to answer the following clinical question: Know the scientific evidence of osteopathic manipulation in the neonatal and infant period.Findings: Searching retrieved 136 articles. After the removal of conference abstracts and those which didn´t have free access to the full abstracts, 27 articles were evaluated.

Conclusion & Significance: In this systematic review, I evaluated the efficacy of the Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment based on clinical cases that reported disorders, such as: infant colic, suction problems, plagiocephaly.