Assessment of rewarming methods in unplanned out-of-hospital births from a prospective cohort

Inequalities in birth before arrival at hospital in South West England: a multimethods study of neonatal hypothermia and emergency medical services call-handler advice

OBJECTIVES

To examine inequalities in birth before arrival (BBA) at hospitals in South West England, understand which groups are most likely to experience BBA and how this relates to hypothermia and outcomes (phase A). To investigate opportunities to improve temperature management advice given by emergency medical services (EMS) call-handlers during emergency calls regarding BBA in the UK (phase B).

DESIGN

A two-phase multimethod study. Phase A analysed anonymised data from hospital neonatal records between January 2018 and January 2021. Phase B analysed anonymised EMS call transcripts, followed by focus groups with National Health Service (NHS) staff and patients.

SETTING

Six Hospital Trusts in South West England and two EMS providers (ambulance services) in South West and North East England.

PARTICIPANTS

18 multidisciplinary NHS staff and 22 members of the public who had experienced BBA in the UK.

RESULTS

35% (64/184) of babies conveyed to hospital were hypothermic on arrival. When compared with national data on all births in the South West, we found higher percentages of women with documented safeguarding concerns at booking, previous live births and 'late bookers' (booking their pregnancy >13 weeks gestation). These women may, therefore, be more likely to experience BBA. Preterm babies, babies to first-time mothers and babies born to mothers with disability or safeguarding concerns at booking were more likely to be hypothermic following BBA. Five main themes emerged from qualitative data on call-handler advice: (1) importance placed on neonatal temperature; (2) advice on where the baby should be placed following birth; (3) advice on how to keep the baby warm; (4) timing of temperature management advice and (5) clarity and priority of instructions.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings identified factors associated with BBA and neonatal hypothermia following BBA. Improvements to EMS call-handler advice could reduce the number of babies arriving at hospital hypothermic.

Temperature measurement of babies born in the pre-hospital setting: analysis of ambulance service data and qualitative interviews with paramedics

BACKGROUND

Birth before arrival at hospital (BBA) is associated with unfavourable perinatal outcomes and increased mortality. An important risk factor for mortality following BBA is hypothermia, and emergency medical services (EMS) providers are well placed to provide warming strategies. However, research from the UK suggests that EMS providers (paramedics) do not routinely record neonatal temperature following BBA. This study aimed to determine the proportion of cases in which neonatal temperature is documented by paramedics attending BBAs in the South West of England and to explore the barriers to temperature measurement by paramedics.

METHODS

A two-phase multi-method study. Phase I involved an analysis of anonymised data from electronic patient care records between 1 February 2017 and 31 January 2020 in a single UK ambulance service, to determine 1) the frequency of BBAs attended and 2) the percentage of these births where a neonatal temperature was recorded, and what proportion of these were hypothermic. Phase II involved interviews with 20 operational paramedics from the same ambulance service, to explore their experiences of, and barriers and facilitators to, neonatal temperature measurement and management following BBA.

RESULTS

There were 1582 'normal deliveries' attended by paramedics within the date range. Neonatal temperatures were recorded in 43/1582 (2.7%) instances, of which 72% were below 36.5°C. Data from interviews suggested several barriers and potential facilitators to paramedic measurement of neonatal temperature. Barriers included unavailable or unsuitable equipment, prioritisation of other care activities, lack of exposure to births, and uncertainty regarding responsibilities and roles. Possible facilitators included better equipment, physical prompts, and training and awareness-raising around the importance of temperature measurement.

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrates a lack of neonatal temperature measurement by paramedics in the South West following BBA, and highlights barriers and facilitators that could serve as a basis for developing an intervention to improve neonatal temperature measurement.

Prise en charge périnatale du nouveau-né lors d’une naissance en milieu extrahospitalier

Les accouchements inopinés extrahospitaliers représentent environ 0,3 % des accouchements en France. La prise en charge du nouveau-né en préhospitalier par une équipe Smur fait partie de l’activité courante. L’évaluation initiale du nouveau-né comprend systématiquement la mesure de sa fréquence cardiaque (FC) et respiratoire (FR), l’appréciation de son tonus ainsi que la mesure de sa température axillaire. En cas de doute ou de transition incomplète un monitoring cardiorespiratoire sera immédiatement mis en place (FC, FR, SpO2). Nous faisons ici une mise au point sur les données connues et avons adapté les pratiques, si besoin, au contexte extrahospitalier, car la majeure partie des données rapportées dans la littérature concernent les prises en charge en maternité ou en milieu hospitalier. Nous abordons les points essentiels de la prise en charge des nouveau-nés, à savoir la réanimation cardiopulmonaire, le clampage tardif du cordon ombilical, la lutte contre l’hypothermie et l’hypoglycémie; ainsi que des situations particulières comme la prématurité, la conduite à tenir en cas de liquide méconial ou de certaines malformations congénitales. Nous proposons aussi quels peuvent être : le matériel nécessaire à la prise en charge des nouveau-nés en extrahospitalier, les critères d’engagement d’un renfort pédiatrique à la régulation ainsi que les méthodes de ventilation et d’abord vasculaire que l’urgentiste doit maîtriser. L’objectif de cette mise au point est de proposer des prises en charge les plus adaptées au contexte préhospitalier.

Re-assessment of re-warming for out-of-hospital births

Therapeutic controlled cooling is routinely practiced on neonates with core temperatures of 33–34 °C attained during cooling for birth related hypoxic-ischaemia encephalopathy (HIE). Rewarming after therapeutic cooling in clinical trials for HIE takes place at 0.25–0.5 °C/h over 6–12 h. Javaudin et al. looked at four methods for re-warming infants born out-of-hospital. The incubator group had a 0.8 °C median increase in body temperature for a median transfer time of 38 min (IQR-31-49 min); equating to 1.3 °C/h. In contrast, the group plastic bag+skin-to-skin+cap had a median temperature rise of 0.2 °C (median transport time 43 min [IQR-33-61 min]); equating to 0.28 °C/h, which is closer to therapeutic controlled methods. Javaudin et al. proposed incubator re-warming for out-of-hopital births whereas we consider that an alternative interpretation of the article’s results leads to the different conclusion that plastic bag+skin-to-skin+cap, rather than an incubator, is the preferable method due to the more progressive re-warming and lower frequency of hyperthermia.