Free radicals may be the cause of many neonatal complications, such as chronic lung disease and brain injury. Treatment options for these complications using antioxidants are being evaluated through research. This article begins with a review of the basic science of free radicals. It then discusses neonatal complications potentially caused by free radicals. A brief description of research into potential treatment options is also included.

ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY HAVE expanded the educational tools and learning options available to today’s nurses. Among these technologically enhanced tools and strategies are online learning, podcasts, vodcasts, webcasts, webinars, discussion forums, mobile learning, realistic simulations, and others. What exactly are these options? Which ones are the most effective? This is the first topic we will address in a new column on educational strategies in the NICU, a column designed to familiarize NICU nurse educators, clinical nurse specialists, managers, and preceptors with innovative and evidenced-based teaching strategies that promote optimal learning among NICU nurses. The purpose of this first column is to provide an introduction to innovative teaching tools and strategies—some technologically enhanced, some not—including such nontechnological interactive educational activities as problem-based learning, games, and concept maps. Future columns will discuss many of these strategies in more detail.

Various regulatory agencies have indicated the need to measure initial and ongoing competency among health care workers. Yet, what is competency and how can it be measured? In reality, competency assessment is about outcomes. Maintaining and advancing our knowledge, skills, and analytical abilities is important for achieving optimal patient outcomes. Competency assessment should go beyond the act of attending lectures and skills fairs. Competency assessment should be a time when nurses can demonstrate and document their problem-solving and decision-making skills, inclusion of best practices, and evidence of how those skills make a difference for the patients they care for.

Numerous organizations have called for significant changes in education for health care professionals. The call has included the need to incorporate evidence-based as well as innovative strategies. Previous articles in this column have focused primarily on evidence-based teaching strategies, including concept mapping, brain-based learning strategies, methods of competency assessment, and so forth. This article shifts the focus to new ways of thinking about knowledge and education. The article will also introduce evolving, innovative, less commonly used learning strategies and provide a peek into the future of learning.

Pressure-limited, time-cycled ventilation has been the primary mode of ventilation for neonates for several decades. But the realization that volume rather than pressure causes ventilator-induced lung injury has led to the development of new strategies for ventilation. Volume guarantee is a mode of ventilation that automatically adjusts the inspiratory pressure to achieve a set tidal volume according to changes in lung compliance or resistance or the patient’s respiratory drive. Volume-guaranteed ventilation delivers a specific, preset volume of gas, and inspiration ends when it has been delivered. This mode of ventilation requires careful attention to the infant and to ventilator settings.

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an educational strategy that provides learners with the opportunity to investigate and solve realistic problem situations.¹ It is also referred to as project-based learning or work-based learning. PBL combines several learning strategies including the use of case studies coupled with collaborative, facilitated, and self-directed learning. Research has demonstrated that use of PBL can result in learners having improved problem-solving skills, increased breadth and analysis of complex data, higher-level thinking skills, and improved collaboration.^{2–{ label needed for ref[@id='nn.0730-0832.33.4.221.bib003'] }4} This article will include background information and a description of PBL, followed by examples of how this strategy can be used for learning in neonatal settings.

Infants with myelomeningocele and the nurses who care for them have something in common. Both are at higher risk than the general population for developing latex allergies. This article provides a review of the literature regarding latex production, latex allergic responses in children and adults, types of latex allergic reactions, and prevention of latex allergies.