Neonatal Committee Courses

Lacey Assessment of Preterm Infants (LAPI) Course

This 3-day theoretical course teaches the use of Joan Lacey's assessment of preterm infants (LAPI).  The LAPI is intended for use by physiotherapists working in neonatal intensive care and/or special care units, and can only be used up to term-equivalent age.  It has been proven to have 86% sensitivity, 83% specificity and 96% negative predictive value for subsequent cerebral palsy and in 2004 was found to be a more reliable predictor than cranial ultrasound.

The course is presented by Adare Brady and Peta Smith- Neonatal Physiotherapists and LAPI tutors who have been using the LAPI assessment in clinical practice for many years.

Course objectives
The participants will be able to appreciate:
1. The importance and relevance of early research findings leading to the development of the LAPI as an assessment tool for premature infants within the constraints of the modern Intensive Care environment
2. The adaptation, over time, of the assessment, especially in the post surfactant era with younger and smaller babes surviving in the NICU and discharged at younger age
3. Why the immature infant requires an assessment method specific to the intensive care nursery and the utilization of items with an unique maturational sequence at preterm age
4. The analysis and grading of the different postures/movements the preterm infant uses
5. The possible effects of neonatal events on preterm rates of maturation and thereby better understand the diagnostic significance.

This course is delivered at advanced  level and is open to physiotherapists/occupational therapists/neurodevelopmental therapists working in NICU or who have access to NICU.
This assessment can only be used with infants in the NICU/SCBU – it cannot be used in out-patient or home settings.

FORTHCOMING DATES TBC