I spend a lot of time in Neonatal units and some are too cold, certainly below 22 degrees and one was 18 degrees, with horrendous rainout in the circuits (turning the ambient temperature up resolved the issue on this particular unit).
The common factors are the humidifier and the environment it is in. Neither the vent or ncpap will change the incoming gas temperature and humidity so the humidifier will do all of this but it is also affected by external factors. If the 850 is set to auto, it cycles over and under the set values by a larger margin compared to manual and once water droplets form it is very hard to correct this. Setting it to manual will control the temperature closer to the set value, limiting the amount of water droplets which will form. You may still get rainout, but it should be less over the same time period compared to auto.
Using auto-feed for everything will help but it will cost more and the water bag will inflate on the ncpap. A pressure sleeve on the bag helps to alleviate this but it shouldn't be a problem 'inflated' but it can make the nursing staff nervous.
Tony, give me a call if you want to discuss any of this.
Mark
