Abstract
OBJECTIVES: As quality of care in the delivery room has major impact on outcome of preterm infants, multiple guidelines have been established in recent years. There is, however, little evidence on how to proceed during postdelivery room care, the time of transfer and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The aim of this study was to identify processes taking place during this period with potential impact on outcome. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective observational study. SETTING: Single-centre German tertiary NICU. PATIENTS: 40 inborn preterm infants undergoing postdelivery room care. MAIN OUTCOME: Prevalence of prolonged duration of postdelivery room care, disconnections from the ventilator and positioning of preterm infants. RESULTS: Total duration of postdelivery room care and NICU admission procedures were shorter in infants transferred in a transport incubator compared with using a NICU care station from birth. Extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants spend 8% of the time in prone position in contrast to 39% in non-ELBW. Total duration of disconnection from the ventilator was 50 s and was ten times longer in infants who had nasal CPAP compared with infants intratracheally intubated. Infants with nCPAP had longer duration of disconnection from the ventilator if body weight was >1000 g or if they were transferred in a transport incubator. CONCLUSIONS: Multiple parameters like birth weight or type of transport affect neonatal care during the postdelivery room period. Prospective studies are needed to identify and optimise parameters within this period that affect long-term outcome.