Neonatal Resuscitation . . . Seconds Count!
The option of providing neonatal resuscitation is essential whenever babies are delivered, says Dr. Randy J. Krszjzaniek, a family practice physician with Baraboo's Medical Associates Clinic. "Until a baby is delivered, you don't know how the baby is going to respond during its transition to life as a newborn."
At St. Clare Hospital and Health Services, Dr. Krszjzaniek is one of several people who teaches neonatal resuscitation to staff who work in the Childbirth Center. Others who teach the skill include pediatrician Dr. Karen Ailsworth; Bob Neilson, respiratory therapist; and Janarl Roesler and Teresa Hays, registered nurses.
Neonatal resuscitation is to babies what cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR is to adults. Neonatal resuscitation can be performed within minutes after birth. Delivered properly, it not only can mean the difference between life and death but can prevent or minimize physical and mental damage. Every two years, the entire Childbirth Center staff must be re-certified in those skills which could be critical to a baby at the time of birth.
"There have been changes in the neonatal resuscitation course since I began teaching the classes in 1990," Dr. Krszjzaniek explains. "The American Heart Association (AHA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) are continually reviewing cases where resuscitation was used and studying scientific data. If these groups realize a change is needed, we implement it into our programs here."
In the U.S., about 3.7 million babies are born each year in the more than 5,000 hospitals with delivery services. Resuscitation is required in about 80 percent of the 30,000 babies who weigh less than 1,500 grams (3.3 pounds) at birth, and for some weighing more than 1,500 grams at birth. Dr. Krszjzaniek stresses that good prenatal care by mothers is essential to helping reduce the potential need for neonatal resuscitation.
Prevention and treatment of neonatal respiratory depression continue to be major challenges, and neonatal resuscitation is frequently required in settings when specialized neonatal expertise is not readily available. The AHA and AAP recognized the situation and, in 1978, began establishing a training program and standardized way of performing resuscitation.
"With every delivery, our obstetrics nurses at St. Clare Hospital and Health Services stand ready to perform resuscitation on a newborn baby. It's very rarely needed, but if there is a problem, they know what to do immediately because of the continuous training they receive," Dr. Krszjzaniek says.
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