Bilirubin is an easy application for parents or physicians to quickly determine when a newborn is suitable to leave the hospital and when they need to follow up with a physician. It follows long established universal guidelines that are developed for newborn bilirubin screening. Parents or the physician first enter the age of the baby in hours. They then enter the bilirubin number determined from BiliCheck, a non-invasive skin detector. This iPhone application then quickly calculates if the baby can be discharged from the hospital and when the baby needs to come back for a recheck.
Bilirubin is a breakdown product of degraded red blood cells that occurs naturally in a newborn. If levels of bilirubin become too elevated it will cause the baby to turn yellow (jaundice). If bilirubin levels become too high it can affect the developing brain.