Abstract

Objective: In situations where resuscitation is needed outside the delivery room, there are differences regarding whether health care professionals prefer Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) or Pediatric advanced life support (PALS) in resuscitation of an infant who is still in the neonatal period. We aimed to evaluate the knowledge, experience and practical approaches related to neonatal resuscitation outside the delivery room, and to draw attention to this important issue by revealing how compatible these approaches are in line with the latest recommendations.

Methods: Neonatologists, pediatric emergency and pediatric intensive care specialists were invited to the survey prepared online via “Google Forms”. The questionnaire contained questions about the demographic characteristics of the participants, the certificates they had and resuscitation approaches in the settings outside the delivery room.

Results: One hundred fifty-one specialists participated in the survey. To the question; “Which guide would you prefer for resuscitation in a 10-day-old infant who was brought from home to the emergency room as ‘cardiopulmonary arrest’?, contrary to the American Heart Associtation recommendation, 93.2% of neonatologists and 73% of pediatric emergency/intensive care specialists gave the answer as NRP. While 48.9% of neonatologists preferred 44 weeks of gestation as the transition time from NRP to PALS guideline in preterm infants hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit, 40.9% of the same team obeyed NRP recommendations to all preterm infants hospitalized in their unit.

Conclusion: Majority of both neonatology and pediatric emergency/intensive care specialists acted differently from current recommendations. This issue should be clarified by the specific guides prepared by the associations and institutions.