Alhassan Abdul-Mumin Solomon Dawuni Jeff Peters

Keywords: Newborn, Immediate care, Caesarian delivery, Newborn resuscitation

Abstract

Majority of neonatal deaths that occur in the first day of life could be prevented by the presence of a skilled attendant at birth. This is however lacking in many instances. In this prospective, cross-sectional study, health care providers attending Caesarian deliveries were covertly evaluated by using scheduled proforma designed based on standard practice guidelines. Six enumerators were assigned from 1st May-31st May,2017 to observe the practice of the providers from setting up of trolley to the tenth minute post-delivery. Actions and omissions of vital procedures were entered onto the proforma. Forty-one (41) providers were observed in successive Caesarean deliveries during the study period. In 68% of deliveries the baby cried immediately after birth. About 80% of providers didn’t scrub before receiving the baby. Resuscitation equipment was pretested in 97.6% of cases and all babies were dried immediately. Immediate skin to skin with mother was done in 7.3% and delayed cord clamping in 21.9% of deliveries. In assessing the APGAR score, 44% didn’t check the heart rate and 82.9% didn’t check reflex irritability. This study revealed gaps in the care of newborns immediately after Caesarean delivery. Measures should be put in place to rectify them to improve quality of care.