TRENDS

Abstract

THE continued high neonatal mortality rate, especially of premature infants, is still considered excessive and presents a challenge to the medical profession. Further detailed analysis of the causes and contributory factors of neonatal deaths is necessary prior to further reduction of the neonatal mortality rate. The following presents an outline of the organization and procedures employed in the study of neonatal mortality. It is based on the approach used by the Philadelphia Neonatal Study Committee. Background The separate study of neonatal deaths was an outgrowth of an initial attempt some 20 years ago to determine the facts and preventable factors in maternal deaths. Both studies were inaugurated by a group of broad-minded physicians through the Philadelphia County Medical Society and were based on the premise that such studies offered an educational program for the physicians. Organizationion The Neonatal Study Committee consists of a representative from each hospital, preferably a member of the department of pediatrics. This representative reviews the final neonatal mortality data from his hospital, brings cases before meetings of the hospital staff for discussion, completes the special study form data, including autopsy findings and staff opinion on each case and forwards it to the Committee for further evaluation.