Prediction of Neonatal Death or Need for Interhospital Transfer by Prenatal Risk Characteristics of Mother

Abstract

A closed-circuit television system is implemented between neonatal specialists at a large neonatal care hospital and nurses caring for infants in the newborn nursery in a small community hospital located in an inner city, predominantly black, economically deprived area. Data are systematically collected relating prenatal risk characteristics of mothers to outcome measures, including selected intrapartum maternal complications, neonatal morbidity and mortality, neonatal therapeutic interventions, and transfer of neonates from the small hospital to the larger hospital. To our knowledge, study of factors predicting transfer has received little attention in the literature. A log linear model is used to identify specific groups of prenatal risk characteristics capable of predicting maternal and neonatal outcomes.