Clinical Focus

  • Pediatrics
  • Neonatal Hospitalist Medicine

Academic Appointments

Professional Education

  • Residency: Stanford Health Care at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (2012) CA
  • Internship: Stanford Health Care at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (2010) CA
  • Medical Education: Tufts University School of Medicine (2009) MA
  • Board Certification: American Board of Pediatrics, Pediatrics (2012)

Contact

  • Clinical Department of Neonatology 750 Welch Rd Ste 315 Palo Alto, CA 94304 (650) 725-8351 (fax)

All Publications

  • Standardized Evaluation of Cord Gases in Neonates at Risk for Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy. Hospital pediatrics Blecharczyk, E., Lee, L., Birnie, K., Gupta, A., Davis, A., Van Meurs, K., Bonifacio, S., Frymoyer, A. 2021

    Abstract

    BACKGROUND: Umbilical-cord acidemia may indicate perinatal asphyxia and places a neonate at increased risk for hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Our specific aim was to develop a standardized clinical care pathway, ensuring timely identification and evaluation of neonates with umbilical-cord acidemia at risk for HIE.METHODS: A standardized clinical care pathway to screen inborn neonates ≥36 weeks with abnormal cord blood gases (a pH of ≤7.0 or base deficit of ≥10) for HIE was implemented in January 2016. Abnormal cord blood gases resulted in a direct notification from the laboratory to an on-call physician. Evaluation included a modified Sarnat examination, postnatal blood gas, and standardized documentation. The percentage of neonates in which physician notification, documented Sarnat examination, and postnatal blood gas occurred was examined for 6 months before and 35 months after implementation.RESULTS: Of 203 neonates with abnormal cord gases in the post-quality improvement (QI) period, physician notification occurred in 92%. In the post-QI period, 94% had a documented Sarnat examination, and 94% had postnatal blood gas, compared with 16% and 11%, respectively, of 87 neonates in the pre-QI period. In the post-QI period, of those evaluated, >96% were documented within 4 hours of birth. In the post-QI period, 15 (7.4%) neonates were cooled; 13 were in the NICU at time of identification, but 2 were identified in the newborn nursery and redirected to the NICU for cooling.CONCLUSIONS: A standardized screening pathway in neonates with umbilical-cord acidemia led to timely identification and evaluation of neonates at risk for HIE.

    View details for DOI 10.1542/hpeds.2021-006135

    View details for PubMedID 34854918

  • Case 1: Rapidly Rising Bilirubin Level in a 3-day-old Term Infant. NeoReviews Tise, C. G., Joshi, N. S., Erice-Taganas, A. D., Blecharczyk, E. M. 2020; 21 (10): e687–e690

    View details for DOI 10.1542/neo.21-10-e687

    View details for PubMedID 33004562