Prevalence and Components of Newborn Assessment Policies Related to Sudden Unexpected Postnatal Collapse

To describe, in a convenience sample, different hospitals' nursing care policies related to normal newborn assessment, to summarize common components of those policies related to sudden unexpected postnatal collapse (SUPC) of the newborn, and to correlate characteristics of the hospitals with the presence or absence of a normal newborn assessment policy.

Descriptive evaluative design.

Hospital representatives were contacted to complete a questionnaire and provide a copy of their policies regarding normal newborn assessment.

Representatives from 39 hospitals that provide maternal/newborn services within the United States completed the questionnaire and/or provided the investigator with a written nursing care policy for normal newborn assessment.

Components of the hospitals' normal newborn assessment policies were evaluated according to the framework of recommended components outlined by the American Academy of Pediatrics in Feldman-Winter et al. (2016).

The four components most often included in the policies submitted by 26 hospitals were maternal/newborn dyad assessments (n = 25, 96%), sequence of events postpartum (n = 15, 58%), monitoring (n = 9, 35%), and skin-to-skin contact procedures (n = 8, 30%). Differences were noted based on the size of the hospital as defined by the number of births and number of beds and also by the type of unit.

Few policies in this study aligned with the recommended suggestions from the American Academy of Pediatrics outlined in Feldman-Winter et al. (2016). It is also important to note that these recommended suggestions relate to safe skin-to-skin contact and rooming-in practices, which may in turn affect the incidence of SUPC. There is much work to be done in terms of disseminating evidence and developing and implementing newborn assessment policies related to SUPC.