Sarah's Baby 8u: Meet Emily

by Cynthia M. Schmidt, M.D., M.L.S.

Published December 2015

Updated August 2019

You should complete the first, second, third, fourth,  fifth,  sixth, and seventh episodes of this tutorial miniseries before beginning this seventh episode.

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Sarah: Case Recap

If you don't need a recap, skip this page.

Sarah Pilger is an obese, pregnant, 16-year-old.  She is currently at 40 weeks gestation.  Her pregnancy has been complicated by fetal toxoplasmosis and asymmetric growth retardation.

Signs of toxoplasmosis were evident on her first ultrasound at 24.5 weeks gestation.  The fetal toxoplasmosis infection seems to have responded well to the antibiotic therapy.  The fetal ascites disappeared within a month of the initiation of pyrimethamine/sulfadiazine/leucovorin therapy. There has been no increase in the very mild ventriculomegaly. The intracranial calcifications have remained static, and no new calcifications have been seen. The asymmetric fetal growth retardation -- believed to be a result of second trimester placental infection -- has decreased in severity. The femur length, formerly around the 3rd percentile for gestational age, is now at the 20th percentile .  The biparietal diameter has remained around the 50th percentile for gestational age throughout Sarah's pregnancy.

Sarah: Case Recap

Sarah and Pat are relieved that the baby's condition hasn't deteriorated, but are still nervous.  They tend to chat about Sarah's care during her weekly ultrasounds.  You've heard about the visit to the dentist for diagnosis of a gum bump, and how the dentist's discussion of the bump made  Pat realize that Sarah was probably pregnant. You've heard about Dr. Li, Sarah's family practitioner, you've heard about  the infectious disease consultant and the high-risk pregnancy consultant. You've heard about the help provided by Dr. Li's nurse and the school nurse.  You've heard Sarah's stories about her extreme weight loss diet in the early months of her pregnancy, before she realized she was pregnant, and the work she's since been doing  with the medical nutritionist. You've heard about Sarah's birth plan and even heard about the physical and occupational therapy that are already planned for Sarah's baby after birth.    It's always a bit amazing to think about the number of healthcare professionals that work together to care for this one patient.

Sarah: Case Recap

About a year and a half after her last prenatal ultrasound, you bump into Sarah and her baby in the cafeteria.  Sarah asks if you remember her and introduces you to her daughter Emily.  She smiles broadly as she tells you that Emily had needed a shunt initially for mild hydrocephalus and had needed the physical and occupational therapy, but now is hitting her normal developmental milestones! You're relieved to hear about this good outcome.

Our librarians want to help

Congratulations! You've made it through all 8 tutorial episodes.

Before you leave, two more things.

First, we want to remind you that McGoogan's librarians and staff really want to help you with any library-related resource use/access, or search questions! There are no stupid questions! You can contact us:

• over the phone
  M-F, 8AM-4:30 PM- 402-559-6221
• via e-mail- askus@unmc.edu
• via the AskUs webform (Available through the "Contact Us" menu on the library's homepage)

• via chat - chat box on the library's homepage, M-F, 8AM-4:30 PM.

Need to search for journal articles for a class assignment? Have your initial search attempts been less productive than hoped? We're happy to help. Give us some information about the approach you've tried and we'll guide you toward a search strategy that will work (M-F, 8AM - 4:30 PM). If you are working on, or toward, a major research project, we're happy to run searches for you. We endeavor to provide search help and/or search results within one weekday.

We're also happy to work with you one-on-one if you want assistance with, or training in, literature database searching or some other aspect of library-resource use.  My name is Cindy Schmidt, and I'm the Liaison to the Diagnostic Medical Sonography program.  You can call me 402-559-7077, e-mail me 402-559-7077, or make an appointment with me using the scheduling tool at:

https://unmc.libcal.com/appointments/cschmidt

Upcoming Interprofessional Research Class

On October 7th, MNED and sonography students will work in interprofessional teams. You will use your knowledge of available resources and PubMed search techniques to find information needed to discuss the merits of a hypothetical, clinical protocol change.