Accurate measurement and documentation of the neonatal heart rate immediately after birth

Abstract:

All guidelines recommend that the heart rate of the neonate is determined at birth. This is particularly important in the potentially asphyxiated neonate that does not breath regularly after birth.  Auscultation is the recommended method but this is not documented in real time and requires mental arithmetic by the auscultator.  This may be satisfactory for the normal birth asphyxia is rare. At high risk births ECG and oximetry may be available but are not suitable for use within the sterile field of caesarean birth.

The development of a  hands-free precordial doppler will be described and preliminary feasibility results presented. Hands-free is particularly helpful during resuscitation. An additional advantage is that Doppler can also be used within a sterile polythene bag  at caesarean section. Currently there is no satisfactory way of determining the heart rate immediately after a caesarean birth.  Fetal doppler devices are readily available during labour and the simple modification permits continued use immediately after birth to determine the neonatal heart rate.  

Biography:

Dr David Hutchon, a fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricitians and Gynaecologists, has 30 years experience as a consultant obstetrician in the UK. For the past 15 years he has been researching and teaching about the harm of early cord clamping, organizing conferences on the subject, publishing over 40 papers, speaking at neonatology meetings and ran an international workshop in Edinburgh on motherside neonatal resuscitation with an intact cord. He recently co-authored the chapter on cord clamping in the second edition of Golden Hours, Care of the Very Low Birth Weight Neonate.