Newborn falls in-hospital: time to address the issue

Newborn falls in-hospital are considered rare and mostly accidental. Few studies are available explaining such accidents. The number of cases may be under reported by parents because of the inevitable sense of guilt they experience. Although deaths have been rarely reported, such accidents may be associated with serious outcomes. An urgent assessment by both the midwifery and paediatric teams should be undertaken following the reporting of such accidents. This paper explains what is meant by newborn falls, presents some relevant literature and uses a case study involving a newborn in hospital to form the basis of a discussion. Importantly it is felt that there is a need to raise awareness of the potential of these accidents amongst health professionals. We hope this paper goes some way towards highlighting some key issues and, moreover, increases awareness of newborn falls in hospital.