Resuscitation of the Newborn Infant and Related Emergency Procedures in the Perinatal Center Special Care Nursery: Principles and Practice

Abstract

In 1956 the Special Committee on Infant Mortality of the New York Medical Society published its first report, Resuscitation of Newborn Infants. The aims of the committee were to study methods of preventing perinatal deaths from asphyxia and ways by which its complicating effects could best be combated in those infants who survive. Since that report, three editions of a more comprehensive book have been published with these goals in mind. The third edition is a collaborative effort to coordinate information that may serve to prevent morbidity and mortality in the perinatal period. The goal was to present more than merely the mechanics of the immediate resuscitation procedures. In the first chapters, the authors have discussed factors that influence pregnancy and delivery, with an emphasis on preventive medicine. They stressed the need for close cooperation between obstetrician, anesthesiologist, pathologist, geneticist, and pediatrician to understand all of the potential influences in