Infant home apnoea monitors in Christchurch: an audit

To audit parental perception of the apnoea monitor service given to neonatal graduates and infants surviving an apparent life threatening event in Christchurch.

Seventy-five of 103 sets of parents (74%), who had monitored their infants, between November 1990 and November 1992, were interviewed using a structured telephone questionnaire (apparent life threatening event (ALTE) n = 44, significant recurrent apnoea (NNU) n = 31.

Anxiety present in most parents (83%) was relieved by monitoring (89%). Parents (97%) were satisfied with the instruction in monitor use. Eighty-nine percent had good contact with the technician, 73% called her to solve a problem. Most parents (84%) thought that initial instruction in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was adequate. Sixty-eight percent would have liked a refresher course which only 7% of NNU and 22% of ALTE parents received. Sixty percent of parents had at least one significant alarm. Nine percent performed CPR to abort an apnoea. Ten percent of parents would have liked to monitor their child longer.

Apnoea monitoring allays parental anxiety and may save the lives of a few infants. A technician is essential to coordinate all aspects of the service. Improvements could be made to instruction for cardiopulmonary resuscitation.