Patient-focused care at the mater hospital special care nursery

Abstract

Background: The Mater Hospital Special Care Nursery (SCN) provides care for all the inborn babies >=32 weeks gestation and for stable out born babies >=30 weeks corrected age. The neonatal services include short term continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and high flow respiratory support, surfactant delivery via minimally invasive surfactant therapy (MIST), intercostal chest drain for pneumothoraxes and umbilical venous lines for delivering higher concentration dextrose infusion. This has reduced the inter-hospital transfer of the babies to the tertiary care neonatal units, keeping mother and babies together. The SCN also keeps abreast with evidence based practices and research initiatives such as the introduction of oral dextrose gel as first line management for neonatal hypoglycaemia and participation in the randomised multi-centre hPOD trial (hypoglycaemia Prevention with Oral Dextrose). The aim of this study was to analyse the transfer of the SCN babies to the neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Method(s): This cross-sectional study included all the inborn babies admitted to the Mater SCN from January 2014 to December 2018. Result(s): Seventy-six out of 1880 babies admitted to the SCN were transferred out to the NICUs during the study period. The transfer rate of babies reduced from 6.5% in 2014 to 2.5% in 2018 (P = 0.014). From 2016 to 2018, there was an increase in the number of CPAP respiratory support (n = 10 and n = 18 respectively) and MIST (n = 1 and n = 6 respectively). Conclusion(s): The SCN has developed an appropriate and safe neonatal management strategy, thereby, reducing the need for inter-hospital transfer of babies.24th Annual Congress of the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand, PSANZ. Australia