IMPORTANCE Hospitalizations of infants for bronchiolitis are common and costly. Despite the high incidence and resource burden of bronchiolitis, the mainstay of treatment remains supportive care, which frequently includes nasal suctioning. OBJECTIVE To examine the association between suctioning device type and suctioning lapses greater than 4 hours within the first 24 hours after hospital adm...

BACKGROUND Intrapartum fetal death, the death of a fetus during labour, is a tragic outcome of pregnancy. The intrapartum death rate of a country is reflective of the care received by mothers and babies in labour and it is through analysing these cases that good aspects of care, as well as areas for improvement can be identified. Investigating unexpected neonatal deaths that may be associated w...

BACKGROUND Conventional sputum suctioning is a routine clinical practice, but complications may arise from the blind manipulation of the catheter. Recently, a visual sputum suctioning system (VSSS) was developed, and we tested this new system in a laboratory setting. METHODS We used coagulant concentrations of 1.5% and 3.0% to simulate mucus and sputum. Conventional single-lumen and triple-lu...

OBJECTIVE To develop an intrapartum intervention scoring tool which could be used to define maternity units as either 'lower intrapartum intervention' or 'higher intrapartum intervention' units. This scoring tool was designed to form the basis of a comparison of the perception of risk by midwives working in either 'lower intrapartum intervention' or 'higher intrapartum intervention' units. DE...

BACKGROUND To determine the strategies of prevention of hospital-acquired pneumonia that reduce mortality in intensive care unit (ICU). METHODS We followed PRISMA (Preferred Reported Items for Systemic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. We searched MEDLINE and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (through 10 June 2014) as well as reference lists of articles. We included all randomized ...

BACKGROUND Best practice guidelines to promote breastfeeding suggest that (i) mothers hold their babies in naked body contact immediately after birth, (ii) babies remain undisturbed for at least one hour and (iii) breastfeeding assistance be offered during this period. Few studies have closely observed the implementation of these guidelines in practice. We sought to evaluate these practices on ...

Endotracheal suctioning is performed regularly in mechanically-ventilated infants and children in the paediatric intensive care unit, by both physiotherapists and nursing staff. The primary purpose of endotracheal suctioning is to remove secretions and prevent airway obstruction, thereby aiming to prevent atelectasis whilst optimising oxygenation and ventilation and decreasing the work of breat...

BACKGROUND Newborns are at the greatest risk for dying during the intrapartum period, including labor and delivery, and the first day of life. Fetal heart rate monitoring (FHRM) and partogram use to track labor progress are evidence-based techniques that can help to identify maternal and fetal risk factors so that these can be addressed early. The objective of this study was to assess health wo...