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Newborn transport in South Australia, 1978‐80
Author(s) -
Davies Atan,
Fitzgerald Ann,
Dahlenburg Geoffrey
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1982.tb132162.x
Subject(s) - medicine , asphyxia , pediatrics , labour ward , perinatal asphyxia , pregnancy , genetics , biology
389 infants were transported to the Queen Victoria Hospital, Adelaide between 1978 and 1980. Twenty‐three percent (99) of the infants were ventilated, and 49% (189) received intravenous or intra‐arterial therapy. Fifty‐six percent (217) of the infants required transport because of prematurity; 11% (46) because of perinatal asphyxia in babies weighing more than 2,500 g. Only one baby died during transport, while 14% of the babies died subsequently. A core temperature of less than 36°C in either hospital is important; a cold baby is 3.5 times more likely to die The transport of babies over distances greater than 300 kilometres is peculiarto Australia. Significantly more of these babies were cold than those retrieved from hospitals near Adelaide (x2 = 4.7, P<0.05), and significantly more died. Difficulty in transferring mothers in preterm labour may be another reason these babies did relatively badly. Better education and facilities will be important if we are to improve their survival chances.